Holding Court
by Marshes to Banks
Summary: Hogwarts is divided amongst the four Houses. As physical violence increases, a Hufflepuff fourth year watches as her hero fulfills his destiny.
1. The Stage is Set

Not everyone looking around the Great Hall that evening would have understood how complex Hogwarts society was. To the casual observer, the Great Hall presented four long tables with a myriad of black cloaked students eating the wonderful fare of the After Christmas Welcome Back feast. Dark masses of them, bundled up warmly against the near constant chill common to all old castles, calling across the tables or clamoring for some dish or another to be passed. It was a picture perfect moment of school unity. Sure, there were groups and occasional separations between the sitting students, but those spaces seemed to simply be the delimitations of particular groups of friends, something common to schools and students everywhere, be they Muggle or Wizard. The observer's attention would be drawn instead to the magnificent ceiling, and his awed face would draw a helpful member of the staff over to explain that it was bewitched to resemble the outside sky. His gaze would travel over those very members of the staff and marvel over their robes, seemingly taken out of the old medieval illuminations he had gazed at while young.  
  
But to someone familiar with Hogwarts tradition, the prestige of certain students became immediately apparent. There simply were some with more elbowroom, with more people willing to make conversation, and some who just sent off almost visible vibes of power. The long house tables were covered in good food, today being a feast and all. But these tables who were supposed to bring everyone together thrice a day and provide food to the hungry students brought something else. Was it intentional on the part of the Founders? Did they really want their Houses to become so separated? No one was truly a Hogwarts student. One was either a Slytherin, a Ravencalw, a Hufflepuff, or a Gryffindor. The days where the students defined their houses were gone and almost forgotten, remembered only by the ghosts and the professors. The Houses now defined those in them; lines had been drawn and woe betide those who might cross them. These Houses would now rule your life, their influence wouldn't stop with the end term feast or even at the graduation ball of seventh year. These were organizations, with ruling families, movements, and hierarchies. And, if one looked closely, one could discern which posts were held by whom if one looked around.  
  
It didn't seem fair. It seemed as though nature simply preferred some and left the others with nothing. Minnie was a Hufflepuff fourth year. She was one of those fortunate students who had mastered the art of blending seamlessly into large groups of people, the better to avoid trouble. All of Minnie's life was organized around that concept; that the best way to remain safe and protected was to obey one's House leader blindly. She was, of course, loyal and true to her House. Her gaze as she looked at the other tables wasn't condescending (after all, she was no Ravencalw), neither was it mocking (she wasn't a Slytherin either), nor was it aggressive (Not a Gryffindor here). Her parents and their parents before them had been Hufflepuffs, in fact, almost all her extended family had belonged to that House. She had been raised in and then inducted into the Badger's traditions and was fiercely patriotic and proud of it. Yet, for all her love of her House, her allegiance held one fault.  
  
And that fault was sitting one table over. It wasn't love, oh no, but the tender feelings and curiosity for another student constituted a breach in the House code that placed all non-House members severely off-limits. Besides, not even in her wildest dreams did she think her crush would even notice her. In fact, she was certain he didn't know she existed. Why? Simple. Harry Potter undoubtedly had other things on his mind.  
  
The spheres of power were rather small at Hogwarts. The conditions for being the reigning ruler of one's house were relatively simple. One merely had to be better than the others, physically or mentally, and one had to prove it. Minnie's cousin had been the Hufflepuff king for a long time, by virtue of his good looks, good work and Quidditch talents. Yet, he was killed by He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named in his seventh year: a portkey had transported him and Harry Potter to a gravesite and only Potter had returned alive.  
  
There had already been a strain on Gryffindor/ Hufflepuff relations because of the dual Champion status during the Triwizard Tournament. Ironically, the solution to that problematic situation changed relations for the worse. Before the Third Task, the Slytherins were the only ones who had picked on Hufflepuff, but when the house had gathered that night in the common room to swear vengeance on Harry Potter, they had lost their most precious ally. Now, the two Houses who had before been able to communicate stood as alone as Slytherin had stood before. Secretly, Minnie thought that the winners in this situation were the Slytherins, their power and prestige had grown considerably. Yet, Minnie had sworn the oath and no one would have even considered that she would weaken, since Cedric had been a close relative.  
  
Yet, her gaze as she looked across the tables was anything but accusing.  
  
It was easy to understand why Harry took charge of Gryffindor. Aside the obvious facts that he had the dark romantic look that made women swoon and was famous internationally for the whole surviving Voldemort and his curse before he could walk and talk business, he had formidable presence and authority. All this in addition to dueling skills that rivaled those of professionals would have ensured even the meekest and toadiest person power. And it was clear to see that the Gryffindors loved him. It might have only been a furthur instance of Gryffindor loyalty or chivalry, but there was no moving undercurrent or back stabbing in Gryffindor. United under Harry, they presented a solid front, and it might have sounded ridiculous, but they even moved as a cohesive unit.  
  
Opposite of Gryffindor in the matter of House unity was undoubtedly Ravenclaw. Minnie smirked a bit; Ravenclaw had been having trouble, a new leader was challenging the old one, and the foundations of the House were shifting. The house was split into two factions and minor battles and nasty duels between the supporters were becoming more and more frequent, as well as more and more violent. The reason for the split was actually something of great importance as it could re-define the lines of power between Houses. The old faction held with the old belief that Harry Potter was disturbed, deranged, and quite possibly dangerous while the new group saw him as the savior of the wizarding world. These were positions obviously holding no possibility for compromise. The Hufflepuff view of the matter was down right amused. Here was the traditional enemy, those who taunted the Badger for being simple and dull witted, pushed to the extreme by their supposed superior mentality. For both sides argued consistently over their positions, yet refused to cede anything to their opponents.  
  
Hufflepuff was settling down after a new leader had taken seat, the old one having graduated. It had been a peaceful transition of power, the new Queen having received the old one's blessing. Still, Hufflepuffs just weren't made for Inter-House warfare. Yes, they could hold a grudge and work tirelessly in the search for or creation of new curses, but they simply were no match for the rage of Gryffindor, the brains of Ravenclaw and the devious manipulations of Slytherin.  
  
In fact, the only two solid Houses, and thus the only two who were fit for a challenge were Gryffindor and Slytherin. The traditional hate between these two Houses had been amplified when Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy had emerged as the leaders of their respective Houses. Quidditch matches now necessitated heavy escorts for players and no one dared to walk alone in the halls, for fear of a roughening up. Competition for the House Cup was also no laughing matter. In fact, the lengths to which some went to have points removed from another House were downright brilliant... and frightening.  
  
Dumbledore stood to welcome everyone back from the end of Christmas vacation, casting warning glances at the head of the Gryffindor and Slytherin tables. Undoubtedly, someone had pulled another nasty prank on another House during the break, Minnie shuddered to think of what it could be. A week before the beginning of the holidays, Gryffindors had walked into their common room to find it infested with snakes. The fact that the Slytherins hadn't even tried to conceal the fact they had done it only served to show the power now wielded by the Kings, as Malfoy and Potter were called. Naturally, Gryffindor honor wouldn't just lie over and play dead. That very same night, someone had to have snuck out and done something because any Slytherin who attempted to cross the threshold of their common room the next morning found themselves walking around with green skin and a red firebolt shaped scar on their foreheads.  
  
Minnie knew from good source that it had taken a Ravenclaw contribution to find a counter-curse. They hadn't helped out of generosity, as selflessness didn't exist anymore. Their motive was purely political, Slytherin having therefore a debt to the Ravenclaws. Of course, Minnie (and several others) thought it very foolish of Ravenclaw to have helped out Slytherin, thus incurring themselves Gryffindor reprisals, which came in the form of a raven, impaled on a bejeweled dagger, found just outside the portrait guarding the entrance of their common room, as a warning. Frankly, Minnie thought it even ridiculous of the Ravenclaws to have hoped to ally itself with the Slytherins. In fact, when the Ravenclaw leader appealed for help in dealing with the upstart, Slytherin hadn't done anything. If anything, Malfoy seemed to enjoy the contests between the two postulants.  
  
Malfoy. He was sitting on the other side of the Hall, looking supremely unconcerned by Dumbledore's warning looks. In fact, he looked as though he was thoroughly enjoying himself. His sidekicks, Crabbe and Goyle, were putting their heads together with that Pansy Parkinson. It must have been something good, even those three idiots were looking exited.  
  
Malfoy. Charming, also drop dead handsome, talented, oh yes talented, benefiting from the protection of both Severus Snape and the Malfoy family name, he was most importantly dangerous. No one, in their right mind, messed directly with Malfoy. In fact, almost no one, in their right mind spoke directly to him, or at least initiated conversation. It was rumored that even Slytherins needed to take an appointment and remember to keep their eyes averted to speak to him.  
  
Malfoy and Potter. Anti-thesis. Contradictions. From their beliefs to their looks. The light and the dark. The aloft smooth skin and the rough, hands on attitude. Now, all that remained was the final showdown between the lion and the snake.  
  
The feast was winding to an end. Minnie and her friends waited until Hannah Abbott, reigning Queen of Hufflepuff, and her guard swept out of the hall. It was then appropriate for them to rise and head to their common room. As they left, Harry was rising from his seat. If the Slytherins were right about one thing, it was true that Gryffindors probably pushed chivalry a bit too far, Minnie thought. But then again, her temporary annoyance probably came from seeing Harry smile and touch someone else. He had given his hand to Hermione Granger for her to rise before giving her his arm and escorting her out of the Hall. They weren't a couple, Minnie knew that, it was simply that the reigning King was escorting the ranking female Gryffindor out of the room. As the two started to arrive at the doors, closely followed by Ronald and Virginia Weasley, Minnie remembered what she was doing and ran off after her friends. She could have sworn she saw the Weasleys smirk at her before she turned.  
  
***  
  
Minnie knew she was in trouble, she just wasn't entirely sure for what. Well, she did have a sneaking suspicion, and that was what was making her nervous. She'd thought they'd have confronted her about this sooner. Once having spoken the password to the column which had split apart to reveal the stairs that gave access to the Hufflepuff chambers, she'd found Ernie Macmillan waiting for her. And he wasn't smiling.  
  
He'd obviously been waiting for a while because she was the last person to be up, having stopped by the library to search for a new book to read. Yet, even with a bit of fatigue, Ernie's sense of pompousness and dramatics never failed him. He stood motionless in front of the stairs, arms clasped behind his back, legs slightly spread, shoulders puffed out and a displeased expression on his face. Minnie was under the impression that she was a naughty girl facing down her father. What was that song again her Muggle cousin used to sing ...Papa don't preach, I'm in trouble deep, Papa don't preach, I've been losing sleep.... Well, Ernie wasn't her father and he held no authority over her, but upstairs might be a group of people which, when together, definitely held power over her.  
  
"Follow me." He'd turned and started up. There had been no noise coming from above, obviously there wasn't a full council. Either that or it was worse, the matter to be discussed was so grave that everyone was there and waiting for her, stony faced.  
  
No, it wasn't to be that bad, the common room seemed almost empty. Well, it wasn't going to be minor either. Hannah was there, enthroned in the large armchair, just under the window. Susan Bones, Justin Finch-Fletchly, Morag MacDougal, Zacharias Smith and Daphne Greengrass were arrayed around her, in a circle. As she approached, the circle opened to admit her. Ernie pointed to a cushion on the floor in the center, indicating that Minnie should sit there and joined the others. The circle closed. Minnie sat.  
  
For a moment, Hannah merely gazed at her with a friendly expression. There was no violence between Hufflepuffs, something for which Minnie was right now, very thankful.  
  
"Minnie," Morag spoke softly from her left, "We were wondering whether or not you had something to tell us."  
  
Minnie shook her head, trying to look innocent. "No, of course not."  
  
"Minnie," Morag repeated, with still no inflection of tone, "Three years ago, we pledged to hate and exact revenge upon Gryffindor House, and upon a certain traitor who callously murdered one of our own." He stopped speaking, marking a pause. Ernie wasn't the only Hufflepuff who had a taste of dramatics.  
  
"Sadly," Susan continued, rolling her eyes at him, "We have failed to do anything of great significance. Yet, we continue to look for an opportunity to take him out."  
  
Great significance... nervous and panicked as she was, Minnie fought down a laugh. The biggest thing the Hufflepuffs had managed to do so far was hex Ronald Weasley and curse Potter's bag. It had required three weeks of planning, a house points costly diversion and the hex had been fired at turned backs. And of course, Hermione Granger had immediately and seemingly without great thought or effort uncursed the bag and de-hexed Weasley while Harry sent the admittedly courageous attacker flying through the corridor, having magically re-arranged his face and thoroughly cursed him. Justin (who had accepted to be the attacker in the hopes of avenging the Parseltongue incident in his second year) had spent two weeks in the Hospital Wing before Madam Pomfrey managed to make headway on him.  
  
Perhaps Justin was also thinking of the incident because he started and spoke up, "Yes, well, we'll get there someday... Minnie, er... It's just that... as Cedric's cousin, we rather thought that you'd be fully behind us in this..."  
  
"I am! I am!" Minnie responded a bit too quickly. "I'm sorry. I mean, I fully support the efforts we've been taking, I don't see what could have made you think I didn't." It was a wide gamble and it didn't work.  
  
Hannah cut through, her voice now rather cold, saying, "You seem to have been observed, for some time now, and most recently during the feast tonight, to have been focused on another table, namely the one we have vowed to destroy."  
  
Minnie tried to laugh it off; did Hannah want to join the Ministry or something? With a vocabulary like that, she had a future! She tried to respond calmly, serving up the excuse she'd tried to convince herself was a valid reason, "Well, it was just looking! I mean, how can we know how to act if we don't understand their behavior-"  
  
"No, Minnie," Hannah's look was grim and her voice was categorical, "You weren't looking like that." She paused for effect and then lowered her voice, "As we do this in honor of your cousin, we would indeed find it very disappointing if you were to join the already oversized Potter Fan Club. Were you to do so, you would find us most unforgiving." Minnie could believe that; the seventh years looked unnaturally big and menacing now. "Remember our warning, we'll be watching. It would be most tragic if we were to find you as a traitor."  
  
Hannah finished and gave her a curt nod, dismissing Minnie. Minnie rose from her cushion, inclined her head to show proper respect before saying, "You'll find that you can trust me," then, bowing, again, she turned and headed down the corridor to her dormitory. The Hufflepuff chambers were on a horizontal plane. She knew that Gryffindors lived in a tower and the Slytherins in a dungeon, she wasn't sure of the Ravenclaws, but the Hufflepuff layout, she was sure, suited to contribute to a very level headed atmosphere. Her dorm was on the left, with the legend "fourth years" over the door. The interior contained four beds, Minnie's being the one on the far right, farthest away from the window. Her classmates were already asleep, and in some cases, snoring. Minnie changed into her nightdress and slowly crawled into bed. She lay on her back, staring at the badger motif on the ceiling, unable to fall asleep.  
  
As hurt as Minnie was from the remonstrances, she knew she couldn't complain. Once again, there was no violence between Hufflepuffs, hard words, yes, exclusion, sometimes, but never anything really brutal or physical. She was lucky to be in this House, she shuddered to think what could have happened were she in another. Ravenclaws didn't get physical, but she had seen evidence of their verbal ferocity recently in the two factions' battles. Slytherins didn't shirk from roughing up dissidents and having Death Eaters in the families probably made their duels and torture sessions rather educational experiences. However, it was the Gryffindors you had to watch out for.  
  
It was said that one of the reasons there was such a traditional enimity between Slytherins and Gryffindors was because they weren't really all that different at all. Both ran tight ships, both turned out extremely powerful witches and wizards, both were loyal to their ideals, and none tolerated simply laying about. Both acted, be it on impulse or by stealth, but act they did. One main difference was evident though; Gryffindors didn't bother with covering up their tracks and messing around with plans, they went ahead with their gut instinct. That could be a fault, yes, but it generally meant that messing around with a Gryffindor could result in serious bodily injury. And Minnie had seen it at work.  
  
As much as Minnie liked Harry Potter, she couldn't deny his aggressive attitude and violence. She, like the rest of the school, had witnessed the duel between Seamus Finnigan and Harry Potter two years ago. They had had to literally scrape Seamus off the walls after Harry was done with him. That fight had both landed Harry a month of detentions and in position of King of Gryffindor. While there had been some questioning Harry's temper at reacting to Seamus's accusations (something or other about He-Who-Must-Not- Be-Named), there was no doubt that his ability to smash Seamus in three curses and hexes, all fired off so quickly that no one had had the time to react, had vastly impressed everyone present.  
  
Still, she couldn't afford to attract the wrath of Hufflepuff House upon herself. She vowed to stop looking at Harry. After all, she told herself, it was just a small crush. As if no one ever had one of those! Especially on Harry! His appeal was widespread, and as he never seemed to attach himself to anyone, it was always open season. He had an unofficial fan club that contained witches and wizards even double his age and who had never seen him before in their miserable little lives. No, she wouldn't be so ordinary and common and slaver all over him. She had enough friends in her year and House, enough boys in her acquaintance that she could ask out, she wasn't risking her position on The-Boy-Who-Lived.  
  
***  
  
Breakfast wasn't a pleasant affair. She knew that Ernie and Susan were watching her and that she had to act as natural and unconcerned as possible. The next couple of weeks were going to be crucial to a safe stay at Hogwarts for the next three years. She was going to have to draw on whatever acting talents she had, especially during meal times. Yet, events seemed to conspire against her. For one thing, the moment she approached the Hufflepuff table, her friends Eleanor Branstone and Laura Madley beckoned her to a seat they had saved for her. Now, under previous circumstances, this would have been the perfect seat, but it was most definitely bad for what she needed to do.  
  
"Go on, your friends are calling you," said Daphne Greengrass with a nudge from behind her. She'd been escorted down from Hufflepuff Chambers, though she couldn't imagine what the danger would have been in letting her go alone. She sincerely hoped that she wasn't going to have to spend the next few weeks with the seventh years as her escorts, as that would be both boring and yet traumatizing. Another nudge from Daphne brought her back to earth. She nodded to show she understood, Daphne nodded back and smiled at her. Well, at least one who thought they'd been a bit quick with their assumptions yesterday.  
  
So, Minnie went down the table to sit between the two girls. And in doing so, sat directly across from Harry Potter. She could see him clearly through a gap in the students between them. Oh dear. She dragged her attention back to the chattering girls on either side of her.  
  
"So anyway... he said that it was so over with her, that he couldn't believe what a bitch she was! Of course, being Owen, it doesn't really mean anything, he says that about everyone! But can you imagine!"  
  
"But he doesn't act like a womanizer! Are you sure he said that?"  
  
"Laura, I heard him say it. Oh sure, he thought he was well hidden behind that couch, but I heard it all!"  
  
"Who was he talking to? Kevin? Marc? Or both?"  
  
"What are we talking about?" That was Minnie. This sounded juicy, and would definitely take her mind off the presence one table away.  
  
"Well," Eleanor said, "I overheard a really dirty conversation between Owen and Kevin last night in the Common Room, you weren't there." She paused as though realizing something. "By the way, where were you? Oh well, tell me his name later." She gave a dismissive wave with her hand and plunged back into her story. "Anyhow, Owen's broken up with Orla!"  
  
"Orla? Orla Quirke? That girl from Ravenclaw?" wondered Minnie.  
  
"Yes, so it's really probably a good thing because I know Zachary was thinking about kicking him off the Quidditch team. But, as I was saying to Laura earlier, simply dumping the girl isn't going to get him back into the good graces of the Court." Minnie wondered at how normal it all seemed, that each House had their own cliques and power, but then again, it made for a simpler life, didn't it? This was wrong and that was bad, deal with it.  
  
"So what do you think he's gonna do?" asked Laura.  
  
"Well, don't spread this around, but he's most likely gonna have to do something to prove his heart's firmly in Hufflepuff, mark my words girls... if Owen starts hitting on you... run." She paused and got an evil look on her face, "Either that, or laugh at him."  
  
Eleanor and Laura cracked up. It was true that Owen didn't really possess a model's physique. But the again, Minnie didn't think they had anything to worry about. None of them were really pretty. She herself was short, well... really short, slightly pudgy, with mousy brown hair pulled back into a braid and glasses. She didn't attract any looks, she was actually a bit proud of the way she managed to blend in. After all, that was how she observed and managed to dissect Hogwarts society so well.  
  
Breakfast was nearly over when what had to happen, well... happened. The target was Hermione Granger. She'd come into the Great Hall, the same as every morning, her bag over her back and a few books under her arm, robes swishing behind her. Actually, she could have been another crack in Minnie's House loyalty. Granger, in Minnie's opinion, was perfection. Nice height, nice build, even her bushy hair could be pulled back and smoothed with a clip. Not model material by any means, but charming and graceful. She looked like a bright, beautiful schoolgirl in her uniform and robes. And on top of that, she was brilliant. The only thing keeping her from being Minnie's acknowledged role model, aside the House difference, was that Minnie was quite jealous of Hermione's standing and friendship with Harry Potter.  
  
Granger obviously had something exiting to say to her friends because she walked swiflty across the hall. She'd nearly arrived at the Gryffindor table, in fact Ronald Weasley was rising to allow her to slide in, when several flashed of blue light shot out from over the Slytherin tables. Several flashes of light hit Hermione squarely in the back, she screamed once, then started to fall, in slow motion, twisting until her head hit the bench and she lay on the floor. Ronald was immediately crouched next to her, wand in hand and eyes alert. She wasn't unconcious... but she could have been; Minnie realized that not all the streams of light had hit her. As soon as the spell words had been cried and the light created over the Slytherin table, wands had appeared in everyone's hands.  
  
But none as quick as the one in the hands of The Boy Who Lived. The first beams had barely hit her when a shielding charm materialized, engulfing all of the Gryffindor table and deflecting the other beams back towards Slytherin. And of course, as the blue beams flew back, several more beams, red, purple and yellow ones intermixed with them, hitting Slytherins at random. Extra limbs, tentacles and fungi appeared on those who hadn't ducked away fast enough.  
  
Individual shielding charms went up all across the hall as Slytherins angrily fired back more curses and hexes and as teachers vainly attempted to calm things down by firing off Stunners and Congeniality charms. But chaos reigned as the Slytherin spells kept ricocheting off the Gryffindor Shield, bouncing all over the Hall and hitting younger students who didn't know how to conjure a Sheilding Charm and weren't sitting close enough to a student who could include them in theirs.  
  
Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws were in majority unscathed, they had cast up Shields and refrained from participating in the melée after curt orders from their leaders. Some Slytherins were cowering under tables (those were the first, second and third years) while the others tried to break through the Shield over the Gryffindor table. Many of the latter were getting hit by the now rampaging spells as they were standing and weren't concentrating on the spells coming back at them.  
  
Minnie stared at the Gryffindor Shield. That wasn't normal; only one Shield around the whole table? Normally, a Shielding Charm only covered one person and a few feet around them and only lasted a few seconds. This one was like a large purple, semi-transparent dome, encapsulating all Gryffindors. Most of them were looking slightly amused at some of the Slytherin attempts to break through it while others looked towards where Granger had fallen. Ronald, Harry, Virginia and several others Minnie recognized as seventh years were all bent over her. The Shield charm apparently kept sound in, because, though mouths were moving, no sound was coming out. From her vantage point, Minnie could see that Granger wasn't severely hurt. She was sitting up now, rubbing her head and talking to Harry. He nodded, pointed his wand at her and said something, a red light shot out and enveloped Hermione who then looked up and smiled. She accepted Ronald's hand to pull her up and leaned a bit on Virginia before being set down.  
  
By now, the Slytherins had mostly stopped firing off new hexes and curses, maybe they realized they weren't going to get through the Shield Charm. The remainder were quiet under the threat of several of the professor's wands. Order had practically been established, all that remained was the purple glow from the Gryffindor table.  
  
Professor Dumbledore moved towards the foot of the table. The look on his face was best qualified as impassive; he didn't look particularly pleased or angry. He didn't even look flustered. He opened his mouth to ask, "Mr. Potter? Now that the commotion is over, would you have the kindness to remove your charm and restore our Hall to its previous order?"  
  
Minnie was surprised. It was a single charm? She'd rather thought it had to have been a multitude of Gryffindors' Shields that had merged and formed one. Not only had it only been Potter, but he'd maintained the Shield even while healing Granger. Minnie abandoned the 'not-interested-in-Potter' pretense for the moment, after all, most of the people at her table were gaping at him too.  
  
From his position next to Granger, Harry's mouth moved and the dome glittered and faded. But he didn't sit down and he kept his wand in a 'ready' position.  
  
"That will do Mr. Potter. Now, I'll leave it to the Heads of Houses to determine appropriate action. The rest of us will finish our breakfasts before heading off the class or what-not. Ah, yes, Professor Sprout, if I could have a word?" He headed off with the Herbology witch, sweeping out of the Hall.  
  
The two formidable looking Heads of Houses stepped off the raised platforms and headed towards their tables, glancing at each other. What came next surprised no one. Snape was shaking student's hands all around, complimenting them, and actually, well fine, it wasn't smiling, but it was close. McGonagall had bent over Hermione Granger, looking worried for about a second, then had started warmly congratulating Harry Potter, no doubt about that excellent Shield Charm.  
  
Minnie would have liked to stay and deliberately eavesdrop, but Hannah had risen and staying longer was dangerous. She picked up her things and, accompanied by Laura and Eleanor, she too walked out of the Hall.  
  
***  
  
"Can you believe that sort of behavior?" asked Eleanor furiously as soon as they were out of the Hall.  
  
"I know," replied Minnie excitedly, "I don't know why they thought they'd actually be able to do anything to her in front of Potter-"  
  
"No, not that," cut off Eleanor with a disdainful look on her face.  
  
"Right, who cares what those two tables do to each other," added Laura. Minnie was seriously starting to doubt whether Laura ever said anything other than backing up other people's opinions, usually Eleanor's. The girls now stepped out of the doors, heading down the path that led to Hagrid's hut. They had Care of Magical Creatures first thing this morning. Eleanor was nodding after Laura's pronouncement.  
  
"Exactly. No, it's the professors!" Eleanor had a shocked look on her face, as though she were really amazed, "I mean, Dumbledore asks them to deal with their students. I'm sure that he meant that they ought to have handed out detentions and taken away House points! Instead, they go around congratulating them! Did you see him? Snape actually looked as though he were smiling!"  
  
Ooops, Minnie thought it would be a good idea to say something here, in order to dispell any suspicions and get herself back into Eleanor's good graces, "Snape? Smiling? You've got to be kidding! He's probably never smiled before in his whole life, and I'm sure there's got to be a school rule against it."  
  
"A school rule? Why" asked Laura, looking curious.  
  
"Well, imagine how scary it would be if he did! I mean, there aren't any psychologists or therapists at Hogwarts no are there?"  
  
"Whazat? What's a therapits and pzycologist?" asked Eleanor.  
  
"Oh yeah. Well, I heard my mom talk about them. They're a type of Muggle Healer, except they don't deal with the body. They're supposed to take care of the mind or something. I didn't get the whole thing, I mean, once a mind's turned to mush, it can't be fixed. Look at Longdrawers's parents!" said Minnie, deliberately mispronouncing Neville's last name.  
  
*** 


	2. And yet

Title: Holding Court

Rating: PG-13

Summary: *WARNING: this story is an unabashed celebration of Harry Potter's uniqueness and powers. Anyone who would prefer to see another character glorified, turn away please!* 

Hogwarts is divided amongst the four Houses. As physical violence increases, a Hufflepuff fourth year watches as her hero fulfills his destiny. Set in Harry's seventh year, doom approaches. But where is the real war; between the Houses or against the Dark Lord?

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Care of Magical Creatures in January always entails a certain amount of dread. For one thing, they were outside, in the snow and it was COLD! For another, the snow seemed to scream "throw me" to a great number of people, so one had to be on guard the entire time one was walking to Hagrid's hut or back. Finally, and this applied to the class year round, Hagrid had a definite weak spot for Gryffindors. 

And as Minnie and her friends approached the groundskeeper's hut, she could see at least two Gryffindors talking animatedly to Hagrid, miming spell casting and heroic looking stances. No doubt they were relating breakfast's events to him, amplifying a certain character's actions. 

The rest of the class arrived and Hagrid introduced today's subject. They were continuing with the Blast-Ended Skrewts who needed exercise. Minnie paired up with another Hufflepuff, Kevin Whitby. Together, they managed to tie a rope around the middle of the Skrewt and off they went. She could see Hagrid tying up Dennis Creevey's Skrewt while Natalie McDonald looked on. 

That sight brought her back on the thought of how Hogwarts professors were drifting farther apart from each other. Of course, they maintained a façade of impartiality, but there were several obvious slip-ups, like that morning. Professors obviously looked after their own Houses. Hufflepuffs always had it easy in Herbology, as Sprout would pre-select the plants everyone had to handle, giving them the easier plants. Ravenclaws always achieved high marks in Flitwick's class. Sure, part of it was that Ravenclaws were usually naturally smart, but Minnie knew that in Charm Casting sessions, Flitwick went a bit easier on his students. And of course, going to Potions class without wearing a Slytherin badge was sheer stupidity, even though three fourths of the school had no choice in this matter. Surprisingly, McGonagall didn't heavily favor Gryffindors, she was always strict, with seemingly no fault. It was rare when she would allow the Gryffindor Quidditch team a week without homework (usually right before a match with Slytherins) or, as with that morning, she failed to take off points for dueling outside of class. But then again, the Gryffindors deserved no pity, Hagrid and Professor Trelawney often turned a blind eye on their misdeeds and supported them in front of the other teachers. 

"Hey! Watch it!" a sudden shout brought Minnie back down to earth as her Skrewt, which had been dragging her along behind it, nearly collided with that of Graham Pritchard and Malcolm Baddock, both Slytherins. Minnie gratefully handed the leash back to Kevin so that he could take a turn while she jogged along behind him. He was stronger than she was, so the Skrewt didn't simply run off with him. It was trying to burn him instead. But Kevin was quick, he kept dodging the bursts of fire, though one gust only missed him by a few hairsbreadths. 

By the time class was over. Kevin had a great, gaping hole in his cloak and Minnie was having trouble walking straight. Running for so long had caused her legs to turn to jello. To make matters worse, the seventh years had class after they did. As they desperately tried to manhandle the Skrewts back into their box, the seventh years hung around the paddock, looking bored yet mildly amused. Occasional jeers and 'get 'im Dennis!' could be heard.

"Eh, Harry! Would yeh get over here an' 'elp me get th' Skrewts back in their boxes?" Hagrid called out to a group of three students who were leaning against the fence in the manner of all cool last-year students.

The tall boy broke away from his two inseparable friends and vaulted over the paddock wall, striding towards the boxes. Granger, still leaning on Weasley's arm, ambled over to watch, still talking about something while pointing to several of the burn marks on the fourth years. Potter, however, merely started pointing his wand at Skrewts and sent them flying into their boxes. Soon, only Minnie and Kevin's Skrewt remained. Their Skrewt appeared to have a modicum of intelligence because it seemed to realize that Harry would shortly be sending it back into its box and it obviously didn't relish the idea. It charged him, pincers clicking and end blasting. Minnie started running after it, yelling and waving her arms, trying to spook it away. But Harry simply turned to face it, lifted his wand and it went flying back into the box where Kevin slammed the lid down over it. 

Minnie stopped running, looking from where the Skrewt had been moments before to where it was now, causing its box to shake and quiver. She looked up at Harry, who was looking at her with a very amused look on his face. She turned, face burning, grabbed her bag and ran off in pursuit of Laura and Eleanor, who were waiting for her at the entrance of the gardens. 

Oh the shame! How stupid she must have looked in front of all those seventh years! Running with her arms waving and flapping while yelling bloody murder! The only positive thing she could think of was that Harry would now know her by sight. But, judging from the giggles and guffaws coming from the other students, it probably wouldn't be such a good memory. Somehow, in all of her fantasies, the moment Harry would notice her never included her acting like a lunatic. Fine, she was a romantic, but she'd always pictured it with him maybe rescuing her from another of those giant snakes like he'd killed before; she really envied Virginia Weasley for having had that honor. 

"That was such an awful class! Why they allow such a teacher to keep teaching or even continue to show us such awful and dangerous animals is really beyond comprehension!" Eleanor was off on another rant. She obviously wasn't going to discuss what had happened to Minnie. As it didn't affect her, it wasn't worthy of discussion. 

The three girls wound their way through the garden, listening to Eleanor talk of this and that and how she was sure Owen was trying to flirt with her and how that made her all confused. She was posing rhetorical questions when a voice called out.

"Hey Minnie, wait up!" Minnie turned abruptly and realized only too late that her bag was still open. Her books, parchment, quills and everything else in her bag flew out, scattering everywhere.

"Oh no!" Minnie immediately went down on her knees to pick everything up.

"Well, see you in Charms, then Minnie," said Eleanor, before turning and heading off with Laura, still talking about her so-called 'problem' with Owen.

Somebody came and knelt beside her, helping her to put all of her stuff back in her bag. 

"Did your bag break or was it simply open?" asked Kevin as he handed her another bit of parchment.

"Oh, it was open. Just look at this mess, I've got purple ink all over my Transfigurations notebook! McGonagalls going to throw a fit!"

"Nah, she won't even notice. The only person's notebooks she even checks is Malcolm's. I think she's looking for proof, just like the rest of us, that he can't really read or write."

"He can't?" asked Minnie. Ooooo, more gossip, she just loved that stuff!

"Nah, my guess is he just copies the symbols and shapes off of Emma's paper. The only snag to my theory is I can't understand how he manages on his exams and tests. We're always split up for that. What ever he's doing to cheat, I hope he keeps at it until the OWL's. There's supposed to be so many enchantments during that test that there's no way to cheat. And if he gets caught cheating for that, he'll definitely get kicked out. Wouldn't that be great?"

Minnie giggled. No one in Hufflepuff liked Malcolm Baddock, he was too much of a blundering idiot. And, he'd insulted the badger. That was an unforgivable. Hufflepuffs might not be brilliant, but they were proud too. 

The steps into the Great Hall rose up in front of them and the two walked in and up the Great staircase, on their way to Charms, still discussing the various Slytherins they would wish to see expelled. They passed several groups of Ravenclaws, they must not be too far from the Ravenclaw dorms and a harried group of fifth year Slytherins, maybe the pressure of OWL's was catching up to them?

"Nope," said Kevin, "Can't be that. Slytherins never panic about anything. Maybe another prank's been pulled. Granger looked entirely too smug outside there. If she had any sense, she'd feel properly ashamed of letting down her guard and allowing herself to be caught in the back like that."

Kevin kept going about Granger's shortcomings but Minnie wasn't listening. So, people were actually criticizing the Gryffindor actions? She couldn't find any flaws with it, they hadn't had any warning, and it was right royal of Harry to protect all his charges in the way he did. _Well, okay, maybe the bouncing aspect of the Shield could have been rethought_, but then again, that's what Shield Charms did. But she had to agree that Granger looked entirely too upbeat after having received those bolts in the back only a few hours ago.

They'd arrived at the Charms classroom, where Eleanor and Laura were waiting, with the other Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws. Professor Flitwick opened the doors and allowed them to sit.

They would be practicing Banishing Charms today. Minnie found herself paired up with Owen as Laura and Eleanor were inseparable and Kevin had been paired up with Stewart Ackerley, a Ravenclaw.

"He couldn't have taught us this sooner, could he?" hissed Owen, as someone sent a cushion against his burnt arm. "This is the stuff we could use against those damned Skrewts with Hagrid. I'll bet it's what Potter used. So like him really, showing off his magic like that."

"He didn't use this! The Skrewts went directly into their boxes! These cushions are going everywhere except where we're aiming."

"Sheesh, Minnie! He's a seventh year! He's been doing this like forever now! He can aim when he does it, the bastard." He was looking at Minnie out of the corner of his eye now, in a way she didn't like. It was cold and calculating. It was a look most often worn by Draco Malfoy, and it was making her extremely uncomfortable. 

"Whyreyoulookinarme?" she mumbled.

"What?" he laughed.

"Well, you were looking at me oddly, that's all," she mumbled again defensively. 

"You've been having trouble with the Court, haven't you?" he said suddenly. Minnie tensed, the sudden seeming change of subject surprising her.

"What do you mean?"

"Potter. The Court's noticed you're always staring at Potter," he replied matter-of-factly. 

"Well… No! I mean, I was only looking! He just happened to be sitting there! I was daydreaming!" _Oh, that sounded really bad_.

Owen laughed. "Yeah right! And that's supposed to sound convincing?" He was grinning madly now.

"Okay, okay. What do you want from me?" Minnie could smell blackmail when it came around. Owen looked at her shrewdly.

"You're brighter that you look-"

"Oh, thanks loads. Forgive me if I don't melt at your feet."

"Oh darn, that's mostly what I wanted," he said, deadpan.

"What!?!?" Where the heck was he going with this?

"Well, I think we can help each other out."

"How so?"

"Well, you know the trouble I have with the Court, right?"

"Uhmmm, that stuff with Orla?"

"Well, yeah," he was staring at the Ravenclaw at the other side of the room who was determinedly keeping her back to him. "You know already?" He shook his head, "Sheesh, I didn't know that Eleanor would get the story out that fast!"

"You knew that she…?!" Minnie gaped at him.

"Well, yeah. I had to get the news of the break up out fast. Telling her ensures that everyone and their brother will know of it by the time lunch ends. 

'But even after breaking up with Orla, I don't think Zacharias will keep me on the team. I think the Court knows that I only dumped her for fear of reprisals. So, I need to prove to them that my heart won't betray me again." He said the last part with a melodramatic air.

"So… what do you need me for? I don't hold any great influence on the Court, remember?"

"No, but we can still help each other." Minnie raised an eyebrow, about to interrupt, but he continued, "What we both need, is a way to show that we've got our hearts firmly in Hufflepuff. I need to show that I don't like Orla, you need to prove you don't care about Potter." He raised a hand to forestall her, "Yeah, I know, I know, you don't really like him. Fine. But you've got to prove it."

"So what are you saying?" Minnie spat out, she was furious now, and she thought she knew what was coming.

"Go out with me." He said it without even looking at her, continuing to aim a cushion towards a box, which was their target. 

Minnie just gaped at him, even though she'd know this was coming.

"Me? Go out with you?"

"Yup." He was now looking at her, serious expression on his face.

"Wait a minute… what does that entail… do you mean holding hands or more?"

"Oh, so you accept?"

"Did I say that…"

"Well, not exactly… but-"

"Okay, fine. Look I'm willing, after all, I need to prove something too… but I want to know what exactly you want."

"You mean, you want to know where we draw the line." He pulled a hand through his hair, Minnie was sure it was an act. "Well, I guess in the beginning it would be holding hands, but that won't be enough. The Court will be really suspicious of us you know…" He seemed reluctant to go on.

Minnie put both her hands on the table in front of her and leaned on it hard. "You mean kissing, right?" 

She got a nod, "Yeah, I guess."

"Well, you sound sure of that," she said sarcastically. "Give me until the end of class to think about it?" she asked.

Owen nodded.

Minnie thought about it as she practiced her banishing. It definitely would help her if they managed to pull it off. The Court would be incredibly watchful, their getting together would seem a little bit too providential. But it did mean that she had support in her case and frankly, it would be a good excuse to not have to hang too close to Eleanor and Laura. Uh oh, Eleanor… she'd already made up her mind that Owen was obviously going to come after her… _this had possibilities_. No, she wouldn't string Eleanor out, that would make a much too powerful enemy in the house. But it also meant that she wasn't going to be finding help in Eleanor, she'd most definitely stick to her (correct) theory that Owen had something to prove. 

By the time class ended, Minnie was sending her cushions into the box. She was lucky Charms came easily to her. Had it been taught by a Hufflepuff, it might even have been her favorite class. As it was, her favorite class was not taught by a badger, but as McGonagall didn't favor anyone, she found Transfigurations quite acceptable. She still didn't agree with Owen's saying that Potter had used Banishing charms to put the Skrewts away, though it might have been a combination, there just was something missing in the trajectory… Anyway, she knew that most of the fourth years would at least try to use Banishment to control the Skrewts next Care of Magical Creatures class.

As they were filing out, Owen stopped her with a hand on her arm, bit his lip, then said, while staring at the floor, "So? Have you decided?"

"Yeah. I guess we'll give it a try."

"Thanks," he smiled. "You won't regret it." He dashed off.

Wait, why would I have cause to regret? thought Minnie.

"Minnie! What's wrong with you?" Eleanor and Laura had marched up to her and forcibly grabbed her arms and directed her towards the Great Hall. "We saw talking to Owen and he smiled at you at the end of class! I told you about that whole Orla business, right?"

"Oh, yeah, yeah, you did…" said Minnie, her mind still elsewhere. "Oh! Oh right! Well, shall we go eat lunch? I heard there were going to be chips today!"

***

They sat down to lunch in the same seats they'd been in that morning. 

"Yummmmy, quiche! I love it when my mom makes this stuff!" squealed Eleanor. "It's French you know. When we went to France over the summer, my mom learned how to make these. You know," she looked falsely pensive, "I really miss the baguettes, that's the kind of bread that they eat, and vin, oh, sorry," she tittered, "That's wine in French, it really brought out the flavor in everything –"

"Reliving the French moments of your life, are you?" cut in a voice. Owen and Kevin had arrived. Kevin on Minnie's side of the table, Owen on the other. Kevin sat on one side, giving her a quick grin. _Had Owen told him everything? That surely was one thing to regret_. Owen sat across from her, grinning madly.

"You know," said Kevin to Eleanor, "You have this really maddening tendency to make others relive your life, even when they don't want to."

"I don't mind," said Laura, weakly.

"You don't have a life to live, hers is the only one you know," said Owen shortly before turning back to Eleanor, "Kevin's right. I don't know how Minnie stomachs it. How do you manage to listen to her endless windings and tall tales, Minnie? Do tell us, we're dying to know." He and Kevin both pretended to look incredibly curious and interested, going as far as putting their elbows on the table and putting their chins in their hands, gazing fixedly at her.

She blushed and giggled but before she could say anything, Eleanor cut in angrily, "Well, at least I can use my tongue to bring things to others, instead of merely insulting them!"

"Oh that hurt, really it did," said Kevin, pretending to shake with sobs.

"Now look, you've hurt his feelings," said Owen remonstratively, while patting Kevin's comfortingly.

"Oh, so it's okay for his to insult me, but it's not okay for me to point out the obvious to him?" Eleanor cried.

"Quiet down there!" ordered Morag from several seats down.

"You two think you're so incredibly funny," Eleanor hissed, "But we'll see who comes out on top. We'll see who becomes Quidditch Captain seventh year, won't we, Owen? Or will you even be on the team at that time? And you Kevin, you think your sarcastic comments really please the Court? Hoping to be a somebody later on? You – "

"Are you threatening us?" Owen asked very quietly.

"I thought at least that was clear," tossed back Eleanor, flipping her hair back. 

"And you think that you're so close to the Court, don't you?" Owen smirked.

"Been thinking you've been short listed to becoming the next Queen, haven't you?" continued Kevin.

"I don't know Kevin, maybe out of House loyalty we ought to tell Hannah that we've found an upstart here."

"Right you are Owen, and I don't think Hannah will be as lenient as Terry."

"Indeed. And who knows, maybe bringing her in would cancel away any fault we've ever committed in our Queen's eyes, now wouldn't it?"

"You wouldn't dare," said Eleanor through clenched teeth.

"Would we?" the two boys answered together, identical grins on each face.

"Come Laura, we'll go sit farther down the table, I don't want to be contaminated by their bad favor," said Eleanor imperiously, flouncing off.

"Now truly Minnie, how do you stomach her?" asked Kevin as he watched the two other girls sit down next to a group of fifth years. 

"She's not that bad…" she began weakly. The two boys shook their heads at her before picking up their forks and picking at the food in front of them.

"And on top of all that, she actually eats this stuff."

"She's insane man."

"Oh stop it," Minnie said with a roll of her eyes. "It's called a quiche. It's French, I think you heard that part already, but it's basically a warm pie that has meat and vegetables in it. It's not all that different from shepherd's pie, I think. And it's not that bad, you get used to it."

"You mean you like this?" asked Kevin, holding up a bit on his fork and examining it. 

"Grow up."

He grinned at her again and began to eat.

Minnie's afternoon classes passed without any problems. She sat again with Eleanor and Laura at supper. Both girls were acting a bit curt, they wouldn't forget that she hadn't exactly defended them in front of the guys. But as long as she kept listening and nodding to whatever Eleanor said, she found that she was coming back in favor.

It was as Minnie was checking her bag for her books that she realized her diary was missing. She didn't fear anyone finding it and reading, it was enchanted so only she could read and write in it, but she did want it back. Drat, where could she have lost it? Oh, after Care of Magical Creatures, when she'd spun around. Her diary was probably outside, on the path.

She waited for Hannah to rise then whispered to Eleanor, "I think I lost a book outside. I'm going to go look for it. See you in the Common Room!"

She picked up her bag and headed back out the front doors.

***

Drat that book! Where was it? She was sure she'd only dropped it around here, it was supposed to be in the middle of the path! And besides, that, it was getting dark, and damn was it cold for the season! She was wrapped up in scarf, hat, mittens, and heavy woolen cloak, but the biting cold still cut through all that. She supposed she ought to be thankful that there was no snow on the path or rain to ruin her book, but she was sure it would start pretty soon, and after that… well, she'd been writing in it since she'd arrived at Hogwarts. She didn't want to lose all of what she'd written. 

The hedges lining the path gave way into a small clearing. There was a statue of a centaur on the left and the hedges formed a type of circle, coming back to line the path farther ahead. There were benches placed at the wide points of the circle, though one of them was almost invisible, due to the shadows and the darkness. There! Her book was lying on the left hand-bench. How had it gotten there? She definitely hadn't put it there. Had Kevin or someone else seen it and put it there so it wouldn't be stepped on? But if it was Kevin, wouldn't he simply have pointed it out to her, or then taken it to give it to her later? Well, weirder things than that had occurred to Minnie at Hogwarts.

Anyhow, she'd found it. She headed towards it, picking it up and checked the edges and sides of the pages to make sure nothing had been bent or ripped. It was none the worse for its stay outdoors.

"So, it was your book, was it?" A soft voice spoke from the other side of the clearing. For a moment, Minnie didn't realize someone had spoken, it was so soft. She felt lost in it, it sounded like the wind, yet like water at the same time, loose, flowing, entrancing… Minnie's back tensed, it couldn't be, could it? _Oh she was in trouble now_!

"You ran off so suddenly after Hagrid's class, you probably didn't close your bag properly. You're lucky I found it. It was lying in the path. Anyone could have taken it." Harry Potter was reclining on the opposite bench, shrouded by shadows. His voice was quiet, though there was a trace of something else. Resentment, maybe? Irony?

Oh dear, thought Minnie. _If Hannah, or anyone else for that matter, sees this, I'm in deep trouble. Will they buy it if I tell them I came out for my book and happened to run into the guy I was warned off of last night… wait, what am I saying, there's no need to warn me off…_

"Thank you." _Deep breath, have to say something else_, "It's startling to know that something coming through your hands can come back out unscathed." _There, that sounded hostile and wouldn't alert him to anything. _

Harry smirked and rose, only slightly coming out of the shadows he'd been in. Oh dear, he was ever so much taller than she was… He was tall even by male standards, and she was so incredibly short. Well, maybe if she simply stood up straight, the distance would be less… 

He let out a small breath, "Ah yes, a Hufflepuff. Cedric's cousin if I'm not mistaken." _Wait a moment, he knew who she was?_ "So, another who believes me a murderer. Well, it's not so far off now is it?" She flinched and he laughed, a strange, hollow laugh. "I've not yet committed a murder, but I shall. There is no choice, it is a destiny. That future which I shall have to fulfill is my present, I live in its ever looming shadow. So if it is my present, maybe even my past, I can say that I did indeed commit a murder… but I don't regret it." 

He started walking towards her, with even, measured steps. It was almost… _predatory_. He came up in front of her, she dared not look at him directly, she had to admit, he sounded dangerous… not really threatening, but definitely dangerous. 

"Have you ever heard the phrase, it was either him or me?" If it were even possible, he was speaking even more softly, "Well for me, it is almost that." He looked grim. "It is 'either must die at the hands of the other, for neither can live while the other survives.' It isn't even a choice, really. It's a prophecy, there's no escaping one of those now is there?" He looked slightly lost to the world for a slight moment before his beautiful eyes refocused on Minnie and the corners of his mouths twitched into a most becoming smirk.

"Have you ever been marked? Have you even ever been presented with a choice that affected more than you?" He began to walk a slow circle around her, "No, you've always had a home, parents who love you and protect you. You've been sheltered, you've known what path to follow. And you won't question that path. And I, I have a path that I am doomed to take. Should I waver from it, the consequences would affect others, not only myself. And what sort of decision is that?" He reached out, placing a finger under her chin, lifting it up until she met his eyes, his brilliant green eyes. _So it was true then, that it seemed as though the Killing Curse resided in his eyes, for only a curse of great power could be this vivid_. He spoke again, this time in a whisper, "You've never made a real decision in your life… will you ever have to?" And with that, he dropped her chin, turned, a walked off. At least, he must have walked off, because Minnie couldn't muster enough cohesive thought to turn her head and check.

Oh this was bad. She'd sworn she wouldn't think of him, but the only thought running thought her mind right now was; _He touched me! He touched me! He knows who I am! He does! He did! He does!_

Okay, need to calm down… breathe in, breath out… really deep breath. Okay now, that feels better. Maybe I'd better sit down. No, not on the bench he was sitting on. Not on that bench either, you'd only be staring at where he was standing. No, better go back up to the common, room, find a nice corner and think.

***

A/N: Okay, I think that this chapter's formatting will be slightly better than last time. This is the first time I post anything on the internet so I'm still learning the ropes. As such, I'm going to need advice and help- in the form of reviews people. I was immensely flattered by those who gave me reviews on my first chapter and I do hope that you guys will do so again. As for the rest (I hope you guys exist) , help inflate my ego just a little and leave me a word. Thanks!

Akalei- I haven't had the time to read your story quite yet, but I swear I'll get around to it before Wednesday. And you like the length of the chapter? I've written most of the story and generally, the chapters are slightly shorter than this one. Keep in mind however, that any suggestions you can come up with and that I would add would then make the chapters that much longer!

Yellowpages- The House rivalry is incredibly important for the story. Actually, the beginning of Ootp gave me the idea… unfortunately, I couldn't keep the ending as everyone re-aligns themselves along with Harry at the end. That most definitely did not happen in my universe. And I'm really happy that you though my story was "literate," I'm terrified of making it sound like it was written by someone with no experience writing. Thanks!

Angel114889- Thank you, you're my first reviewer ever! And trying to make the story different by looking through the Hufflepuffs POV was intentional, the fic would be entirely too boring without it. However, I will warn you that there is absolutely no romantic involvement between Harry and Minnie- she can look but she can't touch. He's already taken!


	3. Consequences of Losing a Diary

Title: Holding Court

Rating: PG-13

Summary: *WARNING: this story is an unabashed celebration of Harry Potter's uniqueness and powers. Anyone who would prefer to see another character glorified, turn away please!* 

Hogwarts is divided amongst the four Houses. As physical violence increases, a Hufflepuff fourth year watches as her hero fulfills his destiny. Set in Harry's seventh year, doom approaches. But where is the real war; between the Houses or against the Dark Lord?

Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended. 

********************************************************************************************************

Minnie walked through the door at the top of the column and into the Hufflepuff common room. It was calm, students were grouped around tables or sitting in any of the large armchairs near the fire. Hannah and the other seventh years were debating something or other under the large window, Hannah ensconced in the 'throne,' the others on poufs or sitting on the floor. 

Minnie spotted a chair near one of the other windows, _oh the luck_, it was even near a corner. _Perfect_. She headed over, noting where the others in her class were sitting. Eleanor and Laura were on a couch not to far from the door from which she'd just entered. Tyler, the other girl in their class was curled up with The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 4, probably trying to memorize it again. Owen was in front of the fire with Kevin and Marc, playing Exploding Snap and laughing. _Good_, she wasn't going to be bothered. She made her way over to the empty chair and turned it so that she would be staring out the window instead of at the room. 

She pulled out her Defense Against the Dark Arts text and opened it on her lap. She then leaned back and looked at the closing darkness. She could see out onto the lake and most of the gardens. Clouds were rolling in, rain or snow seemed eminent. The snow already on the ground created shadows in odd places, making it look as though Hogwarts itself were on a cloud. A cloud… the cloud she'd felt she was on ten minutes ago. His nearness, his very presence, the touch of his finger on her chin. His eyes… the green that was greener than anything else. The green of an eye that was even feminine in its shape, those eyes could almost talk on their own… and the reproach she'd seen there… reproach or cynicism. _Cynicism? Why_? He was one of the Kings, there was no reason not to support the way things were. Though the House separations had destroyed friendships, relationships and the low –stress atmosphere of Hogwarts, they had brought power to those who had been able to seize it. And power was something Harry had at his command, socially, politically, and magically. So why the cynicism? Did he not enjoy this? Did the Boy- Who-Lived sometimes have trouble at night because of the power he held in his command?

That, or… the other possibility didn't bear thinking about. But she had to check it. She closed her text and reached into her bag, pulling out her diary. She brought it up to her nose; it didn't smell of the outdoors, the edges of the pages weren't even curled by the humidity. And if they weren't, after having spent almost a full day outside near the snow, then it seemed logical to think that the book hadn't spent that whole time outside. And that meant that someone had to have had it. In that situation, it would have been impossible for Minnie to know what had happened to her book, much less get it back. 

But she had it now. And that meant that the person who had had the book had given it back to her. Harry. He'd given the diary back to her.

The diary. A diary… a book in which one kept one's secrets, poured out one's woes and told of what one had seen. And someone had had that knowledge in their hands for almost a full day. Had they been able to access it? Minnie had created the charm that bound the book herself; she was rather proud of her charming abilities. She took a deep breath and touched her wand to the lock of the diary. It fell open. It wasn't the charm that she'd created. So someone had been able to open her diary. But her diary held one more obstacle to those who wished to read it. She'd also charmed it to appear blank to all those who could not say the correct password. The pages of the diary were still blank. Minnie breathed a sigh of relief, no words meant no one had read it. Unless… the feeling of dread was back. _Oh why have chosen that particular password_? she moaned to herself. 

Again, she touched her wand to the pages and whispered, "Harry."

Words began to form at the tip of her wand, gradually spreading out to reach the margins of the paper. She turned to today's date. She'd written some words early this morning, about the events of last night. But, where her handwriting stopped at the middle of the page, a different one picked up.

What's the point of having a password if it's that easy to break?

Interesting charms you've enchanted this diary with. Did you create them yourself? The hex the locking charm provokes could be rather dangerous, you know.

A very interesting read, your diary. 

I've long known that there were people who delighted in observing social proceedings here at Hogwarts. However, you seem to have both a talent and an eye. Consider something in journalism as a career. You seem to be a natural. I've learned things about my own behavior I've never known before. Thank you. 

However, that which I find most interesting is the frequency of which my name appears in this work. I've searched through it to find similar studies of Draco, Terry, Luna or even of Hannah… in vain. Should I ever consider having a biography written, I'm sure you would do wonders. But then again, you have a single obstacle to overcome before you pursue your career. You have a tendency to give too much credence to rumors and over-interpret my reactions.

In the future, I advise you to keep your personal belongings in a safer place than your bag, unless you actually do wish for them to fall into the hands of those you likely would have wished not know of their existence.

The So Called Boy-Who-Lived

Minnie wanted to cry. He'd read through the whole thing. All four years of her stay at Hogwarts, all her inner most thoughts and desires, all of her discoveries that she'd made about Harry… he'd read them all. But, her disappointment ran deeper than that… she'd unknowingly betrayed Hufflepuff. Their plans, their activities, everything concerning Hufflepuff House, he knew them now. And if the King of Gryffindor knew, it was safe to say that all Gryffindors knew, well, at least all of the older ones. And they'd want to know how Harry knew all this. Harry had no reason whatsoever to lie or to shield her, they'd know what she'd done and, worst of all, they know that here was one lowly, worthless, plain Hufflepuff with a crush on their King. 

But, Minnie realized, it could be about to get worse. Hannah and the others would be quick to wonder why the Gryffindors were looking and laughing at her. They'd find out why pretty quickly. And all she'd worked to accomplish in the past four years would be over with. She'd be thrown out of Hufflepuff, forced to sleep in the small room just outside the column where the exiles were supposed to live. She'd have to sit alone in class, or be paired up with people who wouldn't speak to her. She'd eat alone at the end of the table, with people's backs turned towards her. Minnie felt a tear run down her face. 

What could she do? She could go to Hannah and admit everything. Or could she? Could she go to Hannah and tell her that Harry now knew the password into her very rooms? Could she show her the diary to prove that Harry had seen it? Could she then allow her to read even those entries preceding his note, those that were chock full of details about Harry? Even the words she'd penned above his words weren't all that complementary to Hannah and the Court. 

She didn't have a choice. She loved her House and wanted it safe. They needed to change passwords now. They needed to move things and rearrange schedules. They needed to act. And that meant she had to confess.

"Are you okay?" 

Tyler had been going to their dormitory and had thus walked past her chair. She'd seen the tears running down Minnie's face. Minnie knew Tyler was an okay person, she wasn't great friends with anyone, she spent all of her spare time studying instead of gossiping and hanging out. Eleanor hated her. 

"No, I don't think so," Minnie managed to choke out.

"Can you tell me?" Tyler came around to kneel at the side of the armchair, resting her hands and her chin on the arm, looking up at her with some concern,

"I might as well… I'm going to have to tell everyone anyhow."

"This sounds interesting," said Tyler. Well, you couldn't accuse her of trying to play games with you, she was incurably straightforward. "What could be so bad as to make you cry but not so bad as to be told to everyone?" She looked a bit puzzled.

"It's bad. But if I have to say it, it's because it doesn't only affect me."

"Oh. It has to do with the House?"

"Yes."

"You know, I still don't understand the big deal. The House isn't that important you know." Tyler always hung on the fringes of things, she didn't hold with the whole House separations, she stayed alone at all times. 

"Of course it's important!" Minnie didn't understand Tyler's views, for her, the House was everything social and political. It was essential to have a part in the House.

"Well, if you say so…." Tyler seemed to be losing interest. Minnie could almost see the thoughts in her mind; _if she wants to cry over something so unimportant, let her._

"No, it's not exactly the House, as in the Court. It's the House as in the space we share."

"Oh. Can you be a bit more specific, maybe?" Tyler's puzzled look was back and she'd tilted her head to one side.

"Okay." Minnie was twisting her hands together in her lap. Tyler reached over and held them in hers, looking up at her expectantly. "I have a diary. I write everything in it, from my crush to what I see during the day." Tyler nodded, urging her to continue. Minnie took a deep breath, "Today, somebody found my diary and broke into it. They read everything in it. They know our passwords, our patrolling schedules and where the vault is. They even know that I've had a crush on them and they read everything I know about them, that which is true and the things that I've heard as rumors. They wrote a note at the bottom of the last page I'd written on. They even thanked me for the information!" Minnie broke down again. 

"I see." Tyler was silent patting Minnie's hands. "This 'someone' you keep referring to… you know their name, right?" Minnie nodded, what did it matter, everyone would know. "It's someone from another house, right?" Minnie nodded again. "Would I be correct in thinking of Gryffindor?" Nod. "For you to be in this state, it would have to be someone we all know, someone you would really, really dread knowing this sort of information." Another nod and a sob. "You had a crush on him… it is a him right?" 

"Yes."

"Well, Gryffindor has a lot of good looking guys," Tyler said, obviously deep in thought. Minnie was a bit shocked. Nobody talked of good looking other people if they weren't in their House, there was always some fault that you could find; too short, too thin, too much makeup… Minnie had even heard "too perfect" be applied to Parvati Patil.

"I… guess so," she managed.

"Of course you do, you've already admitted to it," grinned Tyler. Her smile made Minnie feel a bit better, her sobs ceased. "So, we've got plenty of choices… no one in our year is important enough to have this effect, well, maybe Dennis… the Creeveys are pretty funny… your 'someone' isn't in our year, is he?"

"No… he's a seventh year."

"Oh!" Tyler's eyes grew wide, "Oh my! Weasley… Finnigan… Thomas… Longbottom… or… Potter."

There was a moment of strained silence before Minnie decided to get it over with, "Potter. I've had a crush on him since my first year. Since the Sorting Ceremony, in fact."

But Tyler wasn't staring at her horror. She was looking pensive again. "Well, you have good taste. I guess I can understand why you wouldn't want to have to say this to the Court. They warned you away from him yesterday, didn't they?"

"How do you know about that?"

"I could see that the Court was waiting for someone who hadn't come up yet and they looked pretty grim yesterday. I wasn't sleepy so I waited," she shrugged, "I heard most of it. They sounded a bit tough, I can't believe how seriously you all take this."

Minnie didn't respond, so Tyler continued, "You know, in the Muggle world, they have things like this sometimes." Minnie looked at her, intrigued. "There are different levels of them. Some are in middle school or high school, like what we're in now, some are in college and some are secret, like myths sometimes heard at night. They're called cliques, or sororities or secret societies. Cliques are usually groups of popular people who don't allow people to join them," Tyler glanced at Eleanor and Laura, "Sororities are groups of college students who sort of help each other out between themselves during their college years. But for those, you sometimes pay, there are often hierarchies and it can get rather nasty. But then, the secret societies, those are the ones you hear about, how they're involved in politics, how they influence and sometimes kill or pay off people they don't like. Do you like Muggle movies?" 

The sudden question brought Minnie back, she'd been immersed in what Tyler was saying and her tone of voice when she'd been talking. She'd sounded slightly sad.

"Well, yes. I've got a Muggle cousin and I often go to her house over the summer. We listen to her music, to the radio and watch a lot of television."

"Good, most wizards don't bother to keep in touch I've heard, so –"

"Why, 'you've heard'? Don't you know?"

"Not really, I'm Muggle born, remember?"

"Oh, I didn't know that… when did you tell me?"

"Sorry, maybe I didn't tell you… oh well… it's not that important. Anyhow, ask your cousin to rent some movies with these sorts of things, she'll know what to get. Go for different types though, I mean, everything from "Lara Croft, the movie" to "Men in Black" to "The Skulls."

Minnie had stopped crying. Tyler was pretty good at talking to her, giving her time to collect herself. "Thank you, I'll ask her."

"Good." She smiled at her again, "Now, what are you going to do for your diary?"

"I suppose I'll have to tell everything… they're going to exile me, aren't they?"

"Nah… they won't"

"Well, what I've done is so bad, it's such a betrayal –"

"They won't betray you because you're not going to tell them everything."

"I'm not?"

"Nope."

"Why?"

"Because, you're not the same person I am. I like being alone and spending my time studying alone. You need people. So, unless you really want to spend the next three and a half years as a loner, you're going to do as I tell you."

"I am?"

"Unless you have a better idea?"

"I'm listening."

Tyler grinned again and looked her straight in the eyes, "Now, you're going to go up to them tonight and say…"

Minnie listened avidly, this might actually work, and not all of it would be lies. 

It was pretty late, all that was left were fifth, sixth and seventh years in the common room. Wait, no, Kevin, Owen, Mark were still by the fire. From the hand motions, it seemed as though they were talking about Quidditch. At least Eleanor had gone to bed about half an hour ago, she wouldn't be here to gloat. The seventh years, several sixth years and a fifth year were still cluttered around the 'throne.'

Hannah saw her approaching and gave her a friendly smile. The others around her turned to greet her.

"So far, I think we've been misjudging you, Minnie," she said with a smile. But, with Minnie's nervous look, she tilted her head and asked, "Is anything wrong?"

"Yes, actually there is."

The others all stopped their talking and looked at her intently. Minnie wished she could just talk to Hannah without all these others, but that wasn't possible. For one, you didn't ask for one-on-one conversations with the Queen if you were a fourth year, and besides, to change passwords, the others needed to know what was going on too.

"We need to change the passwords into the Chambers."

They all gaped at her.

"Can we know why we'd need to do this?" asked Daphne, incredulously.

"May I sit down?" Minnie asked timidly. Justin gave her a pillow, the same pillow she'd sat on yesterday. "I lost my diary today. After Care of Magical Creatures this morning, I spilled everything in my bag and I didn't put it back. I realized I didn't have it only after supper. I remembered that I'd spilled everything and I went back to the gardens." She took a deep shuddering breath, just like Tyler had told her to, "I looked for a while before finally finding it in the centaur's clearing," she looked at Hannah who nodded for her to continue. "Except someone had found it first…I… I hadn't seen him when I'd walked in, he told me that he'd found the book and waited to see whose it was… and that I was lucky it was him and not someone else… He left and I came back here…"

"So he read though it? Is that it?" asked Justin with a shrug.

"No, that's not it. Minnie, who was this?" asked Daphne, with a look of dawning comprehension.

Tyler had told her how to answer this question, "I write everything in my diary. And now… well…" she gave a big swallow, "Harry Potter knows the passwords to our Chambers." She drew her knees up and hugged them to her, allowing tears to fall. 

Her words caused a commotion.

"What?"

"You mean he could walk in a destroy everything now?"

"We need to change everything immediately!"

"Merlin, we need to find new passwords, quickly. Who has the Random-Word-Quill?"

"How do we know if he hasn't started cursing things already? That he hasn't been here earlier?"

But their fury started coming back to Minnnie.

"Don't you know you're not supposed to write passwords down anywhere!"

"Completely irresponsible"

"Traitor"

"Look what you've done! I suppose he knows where the vault is too!"

"Silence!" Hannah's imperious tones cut off all noise. Everyone in the Common Room had congregated around them, they also silenced. "Minnie! How could you have done this? I'd placed such hopes on you, you've not only let me down, you've betrayed the whole House! A diary!" she said weakly, "A diary… you couldn't have taken any precautions with it? I mean, to keep secrets from anyone who might have stumbled over it! And to think that it's Potter…" she finished weakly.

"I had precautions. I'd charmed the lock and hexed it too. I'd even charmed the pages blank with a password. No one should be able to get through those." she said quietly.

"Minnie! Locking charms can be broken! And a seventh year would obviously get around anything you'd put on it!" yelled Justin. He looked incensed. 

But that, to Minnie was going a bit too far. She was insulted, "No one could have known about this charm!"

"He's got Granger, you idiot. With a walking textbook like her, he's got to know it. Do you even think?" he yelled back.

"Not even she could! I created it! The Locking Charm, the hex, and the Password Charm are all mine! And if you think I've gone spreading them around, you're out of your mind, Justin!" _Uh oh_, she might have gone a bit far there, _yelling at a seventh year!_

But before Justin could say something back, Susan interrupted, "You created the charms?"

"Yes! So you see there was no way that -"

"From scratch? The spells weren't simply adaptations of others? Or a mix?"

"No! I keep telling you -"

"Hannah! She could do it!" Susan had turned and was in a very closed huddle with Hannah and Zacharias, gesticulating wildly and looking incredibly exited_. What the heck_? thought Minnie.

The others were slowly quieting down, looking curiously at the three who were now all three looking exited. Slowly, they realized they were being looked at and broke apart. 

"Everyone, listen," said Hannah in an imperial tone, there was no question that everyone would obey. "Morag, you need to find the Quill and choose new passwords for everything, Daphne and Justin, you're putting up wards in front of the vault, Joseph," pointing to the Hufflepuff Quidditch Captain, "You and Ernie, establish a watch in the corridor and on the stairs for the night, we need to give the wards time to settle. Susan and Zacharias, you two are going to accompany me, we need to talk. The rest of you, go to bed."

Minnie felt tiny, but Justin hadn't stopped looking at her, "And what about her?" he said, pointing at her, where she was still huddled on the floor.

Hannah's gaze held no answer or promise, and neither did her response, "I have a punishment for her. I won't let her off the hook. Go now." 

Everyone split up, heading for their given task or towards bed, muttering together. Hannah and Zacharias headed off towards Hannah's room. Susan started to go with them, then came back to where Minnie still hadn't moved. 

She stood in front of her for a moment, looking forbidding, then crouched down, so she was almost eye level with Minnie. 

"Minnie, we understand that what happened isn't entirely of your fault. But we are exceedingly angry at having to change everything, I think you'll find it logical that we punish you somehow, yes?"

Minnie gave a slight nod.

"Good. We aren't going to ask you to turn over your diary to assess everything that Potter might know. We're only going to ask that you read through it tonight and tell us tomorrow what we need to change, all right?"

Minnie nodded again, deeply thankful. Tyler had told her to try this path as it might mean she didn't have to turn over her diary and have them all realize how deep her betrayal was. Steering them around to acknowledge her charming ability had been a stroke of genius, even if it was a slight gamble. 

Susan gave a shake of her head, telling her to go to her dorm, then rose and started walking towards the door Hannah and Zacharias had gone through. 

"Wait!" called Minnie, confused. "Is that all my punishment?"

Susan stopped and turned around. The remaining students in the room also stopped what they were doing, in Justin's case that meant a table frozen in mid-air, and looked at the two of them. Susan shook her head and said, "No, that is most definitely not it. You will meet me in the Entrance Hall at six thirty tomorrow evening to begin your real punishment." She turned back around and went through the door from which exited voices were coming.

Minnie rose slowly, under the gaze of the eight others in the room. When she looked at Joseph, he turned away and continued to talk to Ernie and the others he was establishing a watch with. Daphne also turned back to her work. Morag bent back to the table where a large orange quill was writing. Only Justin held her gaze as she left the room and just before she stepped into the corridor leading to her dorm, he mouthed, quite clearly, "Watch your back."

***

A/N: Okay, so not much happened in this chapter. It's more to set up what's going to happen in the next couple of chapters, where we get to drool some more over Harry's magnificence and heroism. But I couldn't just randomly jump to that. I swear I'll get the next chapter up as soon as I get more reviews!

yellowpages: Thanks, you were the only person who reviewed! I hope I can meet your expectations!

For everyone else, don't let yellowpages be the only one! It's bad for my ego! And you won't get chapter 4 until I get more (I'll simply e-mail it to yellowpages). So there. 


	4. An odd sort of punishment

Title: Holding Court

Rating: PG-13

Summary: *WARNING: this story is an unabashed celebration of Harry Potter's uniqueness and powers. Anyone who would prefer to see another character glorified, turn away please!* 

Hogwarts is divided amongst the four Houses. As physical violence increases, a Hufflepuff fourth year watches as her hero fulfills his destiny. Set in Harry's seventh year, doom approaches. But where is the real war; between the Houses or against the Dark Lord?

Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended. 

********************************************************************************************************

Minnie was once again escorted down to breakfast by a seventh year. She had come down rather early, so she was able to select a spot for herself, down at the end of the table, with her back to the Gryffindors. In fact, she was early enough to witness the whole morning ritual. 

Hannah was the first of the 'Kings' to arrive. She, of course, walked in at a normal, sedate pace, surrounded by her guard and headed towards her normal seat, somewhere near the center of the table, also with her back to Gryffindor. As she drew level with her seat, all Hufflepuffs already seated rose and waited for her to sit. That, really, was all that the morning ritual for Hufflepuff entailed. They would repeat the same thing for Professor Sprout when she would arrive later on.

Slytherins always had to make things more elaborate, Minnie wasn't sure why. _Maybe it made them feel more regal_. Most of the Slytherins were early risers and maybe three fourths of the House were already seated and eating. Their ritual started with Crabbe and Goyle appearing next to the doors that led out of the Great Hall. That was the signal for the entire table to rise. Crabbe and Goyle would then start forwards. Once they'd gone forwards several paces, Theodore Nott with Blaise Zabini on his arm stepped through, finally followed by Draco Malfoy with… _who was on his arm today?…_ Oh, Pansy again. They made their way to the head of the table, sitting so that Draco would preside over everything and could see everyone. 

But, to have headed straight to their seats would have been entirely too self effacing. Draco would stop every now and then, saying something to someone, patting someone else's shoulder or even kissing a girl's hand. He looked like a general inspecting him troops, though Minnie knew that he always tried to keep his hands clean. Finally, once the Slytherin Court was seated, the rest of Slytherin, who was still standing, held their wands horizontally over the table and all together intoned "Draco" and small silver dragons formed over their plates, moving and breathing silvery fire, then flickering, then going out. And they sat. 

At times, the ritual was forbidding, serving to make Draco Malfoy scarier and more dangerous than he actually was, _which_, as Minnie knew _was quite a bit_. But still, there were days, such as today, where the whole thing seemed out of proportion and… tacky. _Ha! Tacky! A Malfoy… wait until that gets around… if it gets around, I'm not saying out loud first_. Still, it was a ritual that had been revived from a long time ago. Someone had been reading through some obscure History book and discovered another time when Hogwarts had been severely divided. Apparently, it was a ritual that every house had had, complete with guards at the doors, preceding couple and Royal couple, and incantation of 'King's' first name. 

It was now Ravenclaw's turn. This could be interesting. Under normal circumstances, it would have resembled the Hufflepuff ritual. Instead, when Terry Boot entered, looking harried and tired, half of the Ravenclaw table rose and waited for him to be seated. Once he'd sat, those standing bowed, murmured "Good morning" and sat back down themselves. Five minutes later, the other half of the table stopped eating, lay their silverware down next to their plates and straightened their backs. Luna Lovegood, a large raven on her shoulder, and her friends had entered the hall and were headed towards the empty seats that seemed to be waiting for them at the opposite end of the table from Terry Boot. She sat, smiled at those who were looking expectantly at her, not seeming to notice those who were ignoring her. She picked up her silverware, nodded acknowledgment to those still looking at her and calmly began to eat. The others resumed talking and also returned to eating. Today had been calm. There were times when the two leaders would exchange words, usually trying to bait each other. 

There was no doubt that, if they could have, Gryffindors wouldn't have minded having a ritual. Codes of chivalry always encouraged those sorts of things and Minnie was sure that if they could have, there'd be a whole procession, complete with long cloaks and swords. But, as it was, planning anything would have been difficult. Because nobody could ever predict at what time Harry would arrive. He was sometimes there before anyone else, or he would arrive in the middle of the meal or sometimes he didn't show up at all. That was because the Gryffindor Quidditch team often practiced before breakfast. They seemed to have finished now because a group of laughing and windblown witches and wizards swept into the hall. They strode across quickly, settling at seats scattered along the Gryffindor table. Harry was shortly sitting next to Granger and across from the two Weasleys, buttering his bread and eating scrambled eggs. There had been no time, from the moment he entered the Hall to when he'd sat down to rise and have any sort of ritual like the other tables. Minnie remembered she wasn't supposed to be looking at him and she turned back around, feeling someone's eyes on her. Owen was sitting across from her now and Justin and Ernie were giving her warning stares from farther up the table.

"So, you were saying… you didn't have a crush on him?" Owen asked with a smirk.

"No, not really. I just like knowing what's going on, that's all."

"Well, you must be into the little details to want to know exactly what Potter's having for breakfast in the morning, now aren't you?"

"If you must know, I was just thinking about how the Gryffindors never do anything for him the morning while all the other tables do a ritual for their Head."

"Hmmm…." Owen rested his head on his hand, "Interesting question really. You do have more depth than you seem to – "

"Well, now talk like that is really going to sound endearing isn't it –"

"Ooops, sorry, it wasn't meant to – "

"No, I'm sure it wasn't. Telling people that they're uni-dimensional is completely normal and natural in polite society. Are you sure that you broke up with Orla or did she just have enough of your brilliant remarks?"

That seemed to have touched a nerve. Owen's shoulders slooped and he brought his hand into his hair.

"Sorry," muttered Minnie, not really meaning it and sounding it. 

"No, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have insulted you," muttered back Owen.

A few minutes passed in silence as Minnie finished her toast and Owen stared down at his eggs. Finally though, Owen raised his head and, in a valiant effort to look upbeat started back in, "Well, so the lack of a Gryffindor ritual…. really, I think it's because they don't exactly have the time or any ability to predict when Potter's gonna arrive. He's pretty random that way. It's got to be tough to eat while constantly keeping an eye out on the door. But then again, you know, Gryffindors like big, ritualistic celebrations. I'll bet they'd loved Camelot and all that. All the bowing and ceremony and standing, it's got to be what they dream of at night. However, as they do have some sense, I guess, they must have realized that doing a whole 'King Arthur's Court' re-creation would look rather dumb and just decided to drop it." He glanced over his shoulder at the Slytherin table, "Wish some others would do the same. You'd think that they'd have some sense of style or something, coming from such old families. Justin's told me how higher Muggle society has these unwritten codes or something, like being Sloanes or something, and they usually prize relative simplicity and taste. Maybe the effect goes in reverse for wizards? Really, the only time that ritual has any effect is when there's a storm or something, it's a joke when the sun's shining like today." He grinned and picked up his silverware, his appetite back now, and began shoveling food into his mouth. 

Hannah had finished and risen, people were leaving the Hall and class time was approaching. Out of the corner of her eye, Minnie saw Eleanor and Laura rise.

"Right well, we've got class, I'll see you then, right?"

Owen followed her line of vision, then smirked, "Why do you want to go now? You don't want to wait with those two gossips. Wait with me. You'll come up with me and Kevin. Don't worry, we won't bite." He lowered his voice and grinned, "Besides, it'll make it look more serious if you're not spending all your time with those two."

"They're my friends!"

"I'm your boyfriend," he responded matter of factly.

"So? That's no reason!"

"Of course it is. Now lower your voice, we can't have everyone thinking we're having trouble in the couple before we're official, now can we?"

"You still want to do that with all the trouble I'm in right now?" Minnie asked incredulously.

"More than ever." He answered back with a grin.

"Sorry if that doesn't make much sense."

"Let me try to explain," he smiled even wider. "Under normal circumstances, what you did would have you practically exiled." Minnie nodded, she was still amazed that that hadn't happened. "But you weren't. In fact, if you were paying attention to what Hannah was saying, she seemed to be disappointed, like she was really hoping something for you."

"Precisely, I've disappointed her now, she's not going to continue with what she had planned, now is she?"

"Actually, I think she is," he looked at her, completely serene.

"You're mad."

"No, I don't think so. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the punishment they gave you isn't cleaning or serving now is it?"

"No, but I don't know what it is. I'm just supposed to meet Susan at six thirty, but she didn't tell me what for."

"Well, I still think that I'd rather put my chances in with you rather than with Eleanor. She'd going to come to a sticky end one day."

"Why? What do you think Susan's going to make me do?" If he was acting this way, he had to know what was going to happen tonight.

"I'm not sure. It's just a rumor, a legend almost…" he faded off, looking awed.

"What is it?" Minnie hissed, she was getting really impatient.

"The Dueling Club." he said simply.

"Okay, now it's official; you really are mad!"

"No, really, it sorta makes sense if you think about it -"

"It's a legend you imbecile!" 

"I think there's a bit of truth in it though! And don't call me that! As my girl, I deserve proper respect from you!"

"Why you -"

"I'm just teasing you. I'm not going to deliberately order you around." He looked at Eleanor and Laura's disappearing backs, "But I still would think that my company would be slightly superior to those two witches, that being in both sense of the term."

Kevin walked up behind Owen and clapped him on the shoulder, "Well, are you going to go to Tranfiguration or not? Class is in eight minutes. Oh, hi Minnie!"

"Hi," mumbled Minnie.

"Oh, gosh, we lost track of the time… yeah, we're coming, lead on Kevin!"

The three of them left, two of them aware of the gazes directed at them and thus forcing themselves to stand closer together than they would have otherwise. 

***

Transfiguration passed quickly, as did the rest of the day. Minnie had tried to sound exited about whatever Susan wanted her to do, but she was dreading this. She'd have gladly accepted three months of absolute servitude to the Queen, cleaning the Common Room late at night or doing rounds. She didn't agree with Owen when he thought that the punishment was going to be less demanding than servitude, she was sure that the reason they'd chose something else was because they hadn't thought that severe enough. 

And as for the Dueling Club idea! Ridiculous really. Hogwarts legend told of a hidden room inhabited by a ghost of revenge. Students were said to have discovered this in the late sixteenth century and had immediately seized the opportunity to do here what was strictly forbidden; duels to settle scores between themselves. From there, different legends told either of inter-House competition, others of a select society and yet others of a spiritual state. Some said that the ghost wasn't really a ghost at all, but a selkie who seduce those who ventured into his chamber and cause them to fight against one another in order to gain his… _favors_. Others swore that the room was forbidden to teachers. In fact, there were so many variations that Minnie didn't believe any of it. That there had been duels in the halls of Hogwarts and that some still took place was no secret. But, the room? Secret societies… it made no sense. Weren't there enough societies and select groups inside Hogwarts already? 

***

Six thirty rolled around. Owen and Kevin had smuggled a few sandwiches from the kitchen and given them to Minnie, wishing her good luck. Before they'd gone, to practice Quidditch no doubt, Owen had hesitated before giving her peck on the cheek, then going away, looking a bit flushed. She'd appreciated their support and felt a bit funny with Owen's attempt to kiss her. If he wanted to prove something to Zacharias, he was going to have to try harder than that… she grinned to herself. 

She'd walked slowly towards the Entrance Hall, dragging her feet a little. She arrived to find it relatively empty. She put her bag down and sat on the top step, pulling out one of the sandwiches, she began to nibble on it. Chicken and mayo… not too bad… but it just wasn't a homemade sandwich, the elves were simply too good at what they did. What was the biggest culinary challenge for an elf? Minnie mused. Truffles? Coq au vin? Something Asian maybe? Actually, it would probably be something extremely simple, something messy even. Had the elves ever given them something like a banana split? or a root beer float? 

The bell rang, signaling the end of today's classes. Students started passing her on their way to the garden, or, if coming in from class outdoors, climbing past her on the staircase. Seventh years had had Herbology; she saw Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnigan come in, stamping their feet to get the snow off their shoes. Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown blew inside gaily, unwrapping their thick Gryffindor scarves and fussing with the stray wisps of hair that had been displaced when they took off their hats. Neville Longbottom also tramped in heavily, calling out a cheerful 'hallo girls' before shaking the snow off his robes and traipsing off towards the Great Hall, probably to catch up with Seamus and Dean.

The Slytherins came in, sweeping their robes behind them, looking cold and regal even while cold and in soaked clothing. Malfoy was speaking in hushed tones to a sultry looking Blaise Zabini beside him. The other seventh year Slytherins hung around them, Theodore Nott, Millicent Bulstrode and Pansy Parkinson keeping an eye on the Great Doors while Malfoy's two goons took up positions behind Malfoy. The group stopped on the bottom step and looked out the great doors. 

The threesome everyone knew so well came in just then, liberally covered in snow and grinning at each other. They stopped near the middle of the Hall, glancing up at the Slytherins who seemed to be waiting on the steps. Harry's wand appeared in his hand as if by magic and he stepped in front of the other two who continued their conversation together, though they were watching Malfoy out of the corners of their eyes. Apparently, this wasn't to be a confrontation, Malfoy jerked his head towards the top of the stairs and began to walk up, the faithful following. 

Harry watched them go, not moving until the Slytherins passed where Minnie sat huddled against the banister. It was as Parkinson's cloak swept past her that Harry's eyes stopped on her. His eyes flickered in recognition as he relaxed and put his wand back into his cloak. He turned back to Ron and Hermione and the three of them began to ascend the steps, Harry still slightly in front. Their steps began to slow as they drew level with Minnie who was looking at Harry with a look of both fear and anger while trying for contempt. But before Harry could say anything to her, a cloak came into view from beside her and stopped just in front of her, partially obscuring her from his sight. 

"Looking to rid yourself of yet another Hufflepuff, Potter?" said Susan from next to Minnie, her wand out and ready in front of her.

"There ought to be a first time for everything," replied Harry smoothly, one eyebrow raised. But the Gryffindor's steps soon faded into one of the corridors higher up.

"You okay? He didn't do anything did he?" asked Susan as she bent down to look at Minnie. 

Minnie realized that she'd been huddled so closely to the banister that she'd looked traumatized and trembling. She straightened up, picking her bag up with her as she went and looked up at Susan. "No, I'm fine. Thanks though, I don't know if he'd have tried anything later on if you hadn't been there."

"No problem." Susan crossed her arms, she'd positioned herself a few steps higher than Minnie, to give herself some authority. "So, are you ready?"

"Ready for what?"

"Your punishment."

"Well, it'd help if I knew what it was…" she trailed off.

Susan grinned at her, "Follow me!"

***

Susan led her through several corridors and up a flight of steps. A few turns and another stairs, much smaller this time and Minnie was feeling lost. They were somewhere in Hogwarts, but they were far from Gryffindor Tower, years away from Hufflepuff Chambers and nowhere near Slytherin Dungeons. Minnie guessed that they were slowly rising, but yet, the stones kept getting older. They'd gone through some corridors that looked baroque, a staircase that looked gothic and were entering a zone of Roman architecture. The alcoves in the walls had round arches and contained statues of knights in chain mail, each with a cloak draped over their shoulders and clasping a sword or battle axe in front of them. But what awoke Minnie's curiosity was the lack of color in this corridor. There were no doors to offer a wood coloring, no windows to let in natural light, even the brackets for the torches were stone. The statues were of the same stone as the walls and of the floor. The only thing keeping this hall from being an optical illusion were the shadows in the alcoves and the flickering light from the torches spaced out between the alcoves.

But the corridor was a dead end. At the far end, a large stone sword, like those held by the statues, except, well… much larger, seemed to be thrust into the stone it was carved from. Susan stopped in front of it and looked at Minnie. "As you are serving out a punishment, I don't ask, but I order you to keep secret that which I reveal to you." She turned her back on her and grasped the hilt of the sword. The hilt glowed gold and the blade seemed to turn silver. 

"En guarde," said Susan, releasing the sword, which immediately turned back to stone. The wall behind the sculpture seemed to balloon backwards, allowing enough space to walk behind it. Susan started to go behind it, motioning for Minnie to do the same. Susan then took her hand and stepped into the wall, pulling her along. 

The corridor was gone. Minnie was standing at the edge of a very large, circular, windowless chamber. Pillars lined the sides, supporting a second level with what looked like balconies. Four stairs, placed equidistantly, led up to this second level which was shrouded in shadows. More pillars on the banisters supported more Roman arches, each close together, effectively hiding what was up there. But it was the bottom level where she was standing that was occupying Minnie. The pillars left quite a lot of space between them and the walls, but beyond the pillars was a large, circular raised floor. The whole room seemed to be of the same pale yellow sandstone of the corridor outside. But the raised floor seemed to have a…. _purple_? It was definitely a shade of purple marble with a pattern of white and black marble in it. The black formed the outline of a Maltese cross whose edges touched the sides of the circle. The circle itself was lined in the white marble. The center of the circle and of the cross was marked by a white star of the same marble as the outer rim. It looked… magic. 

But what amazed Minnie was what she'd seen upon entering. She and Susan weren't alone anymore. Couples of wizards and witches had been standing facing each other on this vast circle, casting spells at each other. Others stood in the shadows behind the pillars and Minnie saw one or two sitting on the stone benches in the walls. She's also seen shadows moving in the balconies. Voices had been low, but reverberating against the walls, just like in large libraries. Now, everyone was more or less still, looking, not at Susan, but at Minnie.

"This is Minnie," Susan announced to those looking in their direction. "Minnie," she said, facing her now, like everyone else, "This is the Dueling Club."

***

Susan then led her to one of the stairs, walking around the pillars as the others on the purple floor went back to their spell casting. They passed a group of huddled Ravenclaws near a bench; they seemed to be commenting on what some of the spell casters were doing. The stair she was led to was of the same sandstone as the rest of the chamber but, at its feet was a badger relief. Susan stepped over it and went up, stopping half way when she realized that Minnie wasn't following. She jerked her head impatiently, a gesture eerily reminiscent of Malfoy, and continued up. Minnie took another look at the carving of the badger and followed her up.

From downstairs, the upper level seemed dark and forbidding. But, as Minnie came up the stairs, she saw that it was only because the torches' light simply didn't spread as far as the banister. But, at least there was more color up here. There were bookshelves lining the walls. Minnie noticed that the chamber seemed to be split into four quarters, a stair in the center of each fourth, with a wall separating the balconies. While one could walk a full circle behind the pillars, one could only walk from wall to wall up here, which was only a fourth of the full circle… _was there deliberate symbolism here_? wondered Minnie. Three tables of the same dark wood of the bookshelves were spread out with matching chairs around them. Two armchairs, one mustard color, the other dark brown were tucked in on one side.

There had been several people sitting in the chairs, others leafing through books and two looking out over the banister, over the people below. They were fifth years, sixth years and seventh years. Minnie saw none of her classmates. They'd seemed to be expecting her and Susan was leading her over to the empty dark armchair. From here, she could see those in the Hufflepuff balcony and out, over the fighting wizards and witches. 

"Again, welcome," said Susan, looking truly happy. "I'm sure you've heard of the Dueling Club?"

Minnie was having trouble putting two consecutive thoughts together. "Well… vaguely… it didn't exist…" she stopped helplessly. The others were grinning as Susan continued.

"It does. This is where we practice and where we duel -"

"And where is here?" asked Minnie.

"Hogwarts. I can't be any more specific than that."

"And you can duel in Hogwarts even if the rules forbid it? Do the teachers know of this place?"

"Oh sure, the teachers know of this," said Susan, rolling her eyes. "Professor Snape was a great dueler in his day and Professor Flitwick is legend. Even McGonagall fought here once."

"Do they… I mean, have they…" Minnie tried to pull herself together but the thought of Professor McGonagall dueling against rules was shaking her up… _and Snape_? "Have they ever walked in here?"

"Sure they have! Professor Dumbledore too! They don't come often, and Dumbledore making an appearance is really rare, but they come in for major meets and for the Championship."

"Championship?"

"Yes, and that's why you're here too."

"I am?"

"You've had your name down to join the Club since we saw how good your Charms work was in your second year. However, we prefer to wait for students to be in fifth year; the younger students don't stand a chance against the seventh years of the other Houses. Of course, there's about one or two fourth years that get in anyway; either they're just too good to pass up or there's something they can bring."

"And I can bring something?"

"Yes. We want you to create spells that will destabilize the opponent."

__

What?!? "Curses?"

"No, we don't want anything really violent, believe me, there are enough of those already. No, what we want, is to be able to throw charms that the other won't know and will destabilize them. We don't want feather charms either, but things that will cause confusion will be perfect."

"Why… why couldn't you just look up really obscure spells and use those?" asked Minnie, that would have seemed more logical. 

A short snort was heard from behind Susan, who moved to reveal Ernie sitting by one of the tables, a book open in front of him, "What do you think we've been doing? It's no good. At that game, we haven't got a chance. They've got Granger, they don't even need to search for themselves; she just spouts these things. And besides, they started it! Granger and Virginia Weasley started creating these spells. Oh! They weren't dangerous at all, just these tickling charms or mirror charms, but they threw everyone for a spin! No, we need you to help us do the same thing back to them."

"Yeah," chimed in a sixth year Minnie vaguely recognized as being named Valerie, "Especially at them. It's getting to be embarrassing to go out there."

"Even Longbottom duels better than we do," moaned another sixth year, Caroline, Minnie thought her name was.

"Well, with their coach, who wouldn't?" asked Joseph_, so the Quidditch Captain was part of this too_, looking dark and angry. Minnie knew him to be extremely competitive, whether it be Quidditch or getting the highest marks.

"And who's their coach," asked Minnie, though she felt sure she already knew the answer.

"Potter," snorted Ernie again, "Who else?"

"And he's good, I gather?" said Minnie, a bit tiredly, _was there no where in the school she could escape from him?_

"Better than that," answered, _what was her name_, Holly, a fifth year, "What he shows in the school corridors is nothing at all. He's dueled both Snape and Flitwick and left them as huddled, quivering masses at the foot of the wall. The duel with Snape was unbelievable. It was scary; it looked like they were really restraining themselves from using the Unforgivables on each other." 

"Yeah," said Valerie again, "And that duel really shut the Slytherins up. They used to walk tall in front of him, now they scurry." She sniggered. "I think the sight of their Head of House being levitated out of here for the Infermary was quite a traumatizing experience."

"What, the fact that he was being levitated, the blood, the odd angles his head was at, the lightning bolt scar, or the Gryffindor red skin tone?" asked Joseph sarcastically.

"None of that, simply the fact that he wasn't swooping around with that scowl on his face for more than three minutes. Even I was scared," said yet another voice. _Ah!_ Minnie thought she'd seen Hannah. She inclined her head to show her respect which earned her a smile.

"But so, you understand how much we need you?" pleeded Susan. "We know we don't really stand a chance against Potter himself, but against his minions… we might have a chance!"

"You mean… you actually go up against him?" Minnie was sure that she'd just walked into bedlam, _were they completley insane?_

"Technically… no," said Hannah, "We refused to go up against him any anymore, we simply had enough of having to be scraped off the floor. To be really honest with you, he didn't put up much of a fight with that, he seemed rather bored everytime we'd face him."

"So what _does_ he do?"

"He captains the Gryffindor team, does practices with them and all. And believe me, that's still pretty bad. They've got excellent coaching and they have to become good when fighting him, they've got to!"

"So, he himself doesn't present much of a threat…" said Minnie, okay, that made it a little bit easier.

"N-no… at least he didn't until he found a new way to challenge himself," said Caroline with a sigh.

"Yeah," agreed Ernie, putting his head in his hands, "Now, he's posessing the other Gryffindor's bodies and dueling through their minds. The spells the Gryffindor fourth years come out with under his influence… I'd rather not think about it." He shuddered. 

"I've asked him to stop," said Hannah weakly, "But he just laughed, he finds it fun. Though he did promise that he wouldn't do it for the real meets."

"Speaking of the meets," said Susan, "He wants to have something special."

"Oh no," groaned those present.

"Yes, he wants to be able to duel."

"So, who's the lucky elect?" asked Paige.

"He wants us to volunteer one person from each house. He'll duel them together," replied Susan.

"Does anyone here feel like suicide?" asked Paige incredulously, looking around, her eyes wide open. She was answered by either blank looks or rolled eyes. 

"We'll just have to establish which one of us duels best. I'll talk to the other Heads and put together a strong group. Maybe fighting against three strong fighters will give him pause?"

Minnie tuned out the conversation, she wasn't going to have to fight, she'd merely need to think up hexes for the fighters to use. She had a good stock of offensive curses she could give and she enjoyed creating new ones. This punishment wasn't turning out to be all that punishing. 

She'd seated herself close to the banister, if she leaned over slightly, she had an excellent view of the dueling surface and of those dueling upon it. Hermione Granger was down there, dueling with what seemed to be Neville Longbottom. Neville's style seemed to be cautious and blunt. He rarely danced out of the way of the spells Hermione would cast at him, preferring to produce solid shields that would absorb whatever Hermione had just shot at him. Hermione, on the other hand, never stood in the same place for more than five consecutive seconds. Her robes twirled around her legs and wisps of hair came undone from her tight ponytail. But unlike the other pairs out on the floor, the two Gryffindors were laughing at each other. It made sense in a biased, stereotypical sort of way. Gryffindors were chivalrous, they fought by codes, but fight they did. They were red, or scarlet, blooded with quick tempers. They were made for frontal combat. So while the Ravenclaws regarded dueling as an opportunity to test their knowledge, Slytherin to test their means for revenge and Hufflepuffs their dumb defense, Gryffindors reveled in the combat. Maybe that would be why everyone was so ready to condemn Harry Potter, after all, weren't Gryffindors cut out to revel in blood shed. But Cedric's body had been whole and unblemished.

But then again, Gryffindor's chivalry was against needless bloodshed. The whole House was a paradox! They were straightlaced individuals who wanted the world to fit into their paradigm of thinking… and were willing to shed blood to get there. 

And it was just as these thoughts were swimming through her head that the King of Gryffindor himself appeared at the Gryffindor balustrade. These balconies made Minnie think of Italian Palazzos because of the narrow arches; it was almost impossible to fit a whole person between the small columns. But Harry was leaner than most. In fact, Minnie would never have noticed him coming to stand across from the Hufflepuff Quarters if not for the momentary lapse in activity down on the Dueling surface. It had started as Hermione and Neville had paused to wave upwards and others had picked up on the action with their peripheral vision.

He made an imposing sight. He commanded the space, his arms crossed over his chest and his legs slightly akimbo, he surveyed the work being done below. He wore a calculating stare that would have seemed more at home on the face of a Slytherin. As it was, if it were not for the gold and scarlet tie around his neck, he would have seemed the quintessential Slytherin; brooding, dark and calculating. The darkness of his appearance allowed his to dominate the shadows around him, bringing greater emphasis on his porcelain skin and pink lips. His green eyes were hooded so from her vantage point, Minnie could not admire the green eyes. But she had material enough for several fantasies now. After all, what was more sexy than a gorgeous, brooding savior? 

Smoothly, Harry uncrossed his arms and leaned over the balustrade, calling out for those Gryffindors out on the Dueling Surface to come up. Several mock duels were quickly concluded and several students left the surface to climb up the stairs that led to the Gryffindor Quarters. As Harry straightened, his eyes fell on Minnie, directly across the Chamber from him. He raised an eyebrow and a corner of his lip twitched into what might have been a smirk, but before Minnie could be sure, he turned and vanished into the shadows of the Quarters. 

Before she could swoon or whimper, Minnie brought her attention back to the debate still raging around her. Thankfully, none of those present had noticed her lapse of attention and subsequent flush in her cheeks. 

********************************************************************************************************

A/N: Okay, this was a HUGE chapter! Don't expect sixteen pages from me very often, because they won't materialize! 

So, just to clear things up slightly because I know some people will be confused: the "Dueling Camber" is the whole cavernous hall behind the sword statue. The "Dueling Surface" is the round, purple area the students duel on. The house "Quarters" are the four areas on a sort of second floor accessible by the corresponding staircase. This will be important later on!

Also, I know that the whole ritual thingy was a bit odd, but it will come up again (next chapter in fact). Besides, I thought a small review of who was head of which House would do some good. 

Now, I haven't carried out my threat. I wanted to get more reviews, but either you guys are just horribly lazy or then absolutely nobody is reading this (too bad I can't justify raising the rating to an R- I might get more people to read this then, hmmmm…) Anyhow, if I don't get over ten reviews for this chapter (because it did take some work), I will e-mail this chapter to the superior goddess who regularly reviews (and only to the others who review). So there. Review now! 

So I will thank those who did review (a grand number of four!): dmmason03, Merlana, Innocent-Elphie, and yellowpages! You guys are wonderful!


	5. Disappointment

Title: Holding Court

Rating: PG-13

Summary: *WARNING: this story is an unabashed celebration of Harry Potter's uniqueness and powers. Anyone who would prefer to see another character glorified, turn away please!* 

Hogwarts is divided amongst the four Houses. As physical violence increases, a Hufflepuff fourth year watches as her hero fulfills his destiny. Set in Harry's seventh year, doom approaches. But where is the real war; between the Houses or against the Dark Lord?

Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended. 

********************************************************************************************************

Minnie returned to Hufflepuff Chambers with Valerie, Caroline and Paige. Though she tried to remember the path back to the dormitories, she was soon hopelessly lost. Luckily for her, the sixth years were chattering excitedly and didn't notice exactly how closely Minnie kept to them. Apparently, they might profess to hating Gryffindor with a passion, but they were not adverse to discussing its King thoroughly. Minnie was surprised to learn that these three girls knew more about Harry Potter than she did, all through their own observations. However, while they might have constituted what might have passed for a fan club, they were also giddy with the thought that someone might be able to best him in a duel.

The events were starting to catch up to Minnie. 

The reality of the Dueling Club.

The fact she didn't seem to be in so much trouble after all.

That the Court seemed to be placing a lot of interest… and _hope_… in her.

And, her close encounter with Harry before Susan had arrived. She wasn't sure whether or not she was glad for her arrival. She almost wanted to hear what Potter was going to say to her. A tease? A thoughtful comment? A warning? An apology? Granger and Weasley had looked confused at his slowing down to speak to her, they obviously didn't know what he was up to. She shivered again, _ohhhh_ he'd been so close! He didn't have to smile at her, all he had to do was _look_, and the feeling of being in those green eyes, _sigh_. 

"And so, do you have anyone to go to the Valentine's Day Feast with?" Caroline asked, out of the blue. For a minute, Minnie panicked and thought to answer, but before she could make a fool of herself, Valerie answered the question with a dry snort.

"I've been dropping subtle" very heavy emphasis on that last word, "hints as to its coming up," _what was she talking about, they still had a month_! "But Joseph seems completely blind, deaf and mute to the subject."

"Well, if there's no competition, you can bet he's not going to notice!" 

"Well, so does that mean I'm supposed to flirt with Stephen? Ask him to partner me in dueling or something?"

"No," from Paige this time, "Stephen's mine. Hands off."

The friendly banter continued until they reached the column entrance. Once in the Common Room, the older girls bid her goodnight and headed off to their dorm, still discussing the emotionless-fool-that-was-Joseph, disappearing along with their giggles.

Minnie tiptoed into her dorm, hoping that all the other girls would be asleep. She checked that no one had touched or disturbed the charm around her diary then padded off to the bathroom to change. She was already changed into her nightdress and climbing into bed, when she heard movement from the bed next over.

"You 'kay?" asked the sleep muzzy voice of Tyler, who appeared from under her covers, rubbing her eyes. "Punishment wasn't too bad, was it?"

"No, I'm fine." Minnie responded, slightly warmed that someone was concerned about her, even if that person was obviously having trouble keeping her eyes open and her mouth moving.

"Don't 'suppose you c'n tell me what it was?" Tyler's head sank back on the pillow and she closed her eyes. "Mmmmm?"

"No, I can't… sorry." It seemed little for someone who'd stayed up waiting for her.

"S'all right." Tyler was asleep before she finished the sentence.

Minnie soon joined her.

***

This time, when Minnie arrived in the Common Room before coming down to breakfast, the seventh years didn't rise with annoyed looks on their faces. In fact, as Susan and Ernie walked her down, they talked excitedly about the Dueling Club. 

"Confundus Charms, you know, that's what the Gryffindors have been doing," Ernie was saying.

"Yes, but Confundus only confuse temporarily, you can work around them, if you know what they do," argued Susan.

"But that's all we need, if we can confuse them, we can get a good curse in and finish it off!"

"Not if they systematically put up a Shield Charm!"

"They'll be too busy working out what's happening to them!"

"Still, as a gut reaction, you can train yourself to immediately shield yourself for the instant it takes to work out what's happening to you. I've been trying that against Justin and Zacharias. It works all right, you know."

"You didn't tell me that! I guess I'll try it next time, though, it does sound like a last resort plan to me…" Ernie trailed off.

"We are at last resorts, you great fool," teased Susan.

"But so, a Shield Charm will deflect most of the Confundus, you say?"

"Yup, but the timing has to be right, you can't be too late or too early. I just randomly repeat '_Protego'_ until I know how to get around what they've done to me."

"So, maybe we could find a stronger Shield Charm? That has to exist!"

"Well, I tried '_Mure_' during the last meet, Granger cut through that one like it was whipped cream."

"They've got something stronger, I know it," Minnie decided on joining the conversation. The two others looked at her in surprise.

"How do you know?" asked Ernie.

"Well, yesterday, at breakfast, the Shield that Potter used managed to stay up for quite a while, it covered a lot of space and deflected most everything," she responded

"Yeah," said Susan slowly, "but we can't exactly walk up and ask Potter what that Charm was…"

"I can work on it," said Minnie, which brought smiles to the other's faces. "But some charms are unique to the wizard." the smiles faded. "I'll give it a shot."

"Thanks," said Ernie, with a sheepish grin on his face now.

They'd arrived at the Great Hall. Minnie spotted Owen and Kevin waving at her from farther down, and, hastily excusing herself from Susan and Ernie, she rushed off to join them, making sure to keep her back to Gryffindor.

"So," asked Owen excitedly, "What did they make you do?"

"Cleaning the greenhouses? Pruning all of Professor Sprout's hedges?" Kevin leaned in.

Minnie grinned, looking directly at Owen she said, "It's a secret. I'm not allowed to tell you." _Now if he couldn't figure it out from that, she wasn't going to risk any more._

"That makes no sense!" exclaimed Kevin.

"Yeah, what kind of punishment is it if the others can't fear it," Owen looked confused even though he was laughing

"Sorry, but I'm in trouble enough with the court, I don't want it any worse." 

"So," said Kevin, mock pensively, "We know at least that it was rather unpleasant…"

"Yeah, she doesn't want it to get any worse…" continued Owen.

"Stop it, both of you. I'm not going to slip up and tell. As for you, do you know many people who want their punishment to get worse?" Minnie pretended to scold.

"Well…" Kevin and Owen dropped it, starting to argue about Hufflepuff's chances of winning the Quidditch Cup this year.

Minnie's attention shifted elsewhere, to the doors of the Great Hall specifically. She knew that she's promised herself time and time again now, but there he was. He was walking into the hall, _had there been no Quidditch practice today_? in his school robes. _Oh my, now that was a sight to wake up to_, tall, self- assured, manly and beautiful. Minnie was dimly aware that she wasn't the only person staring dreamily at him. Hermione Granger was on his arm. They swept past the other House tables before coming to a halt in front of their seats where Harry graciously waited for her to sit before he sat next to her, looking for all the world like reigning Hogwarts Hearthrob, _which he was, sort of, _admitted Minnie to herself.

Minnie noticed that they'd seemed to choose their seats deliberately, Harry even nudging a third year aside. They were talking animatedly, but Minnie caught the focused look on Harry's face and saw that Harry left his wand out in front of him, by his knife. 

What captivated her was the smile on Harry's face. She hadn't often seen it, as his face was usually impassive when in public, but here… _Wow_. Valerie, Caroline and Paige were practically drooling in their porridge from their seats, farther down. And Granger also looked radiant. _Was there something going on between them_? It would be unlikely, that they'd get together so far along. But then again, the Weasleys didn't look miffed, so that pretty much ruled out the couple aspect.

But it wasn't long before Minnie- and the rest of the school- found out the reason behind the Gryffindor King's good mood. 

The Slytherins were rising. Malfoy was approaching with Blaise Zabini on his arm this time. _He ought to walk in with her more often, they make a striking pair_. They were walking with slow, measured paces, looking regal and unapproachable. Owen was right, today, with the dark stormy sky above them, it did look a bit eerie. Malfoy stopped and shook a fourth year's hand, Kyle, Minnie thought he was called. Then, leaving him, he continued to another student Minnie knew and hated as well. Deidre, the Slytherin fourth-year Brain, who regularly gloated out loud every time she achieved good marks. She'd slowly held out her hand, as was proper manners, and Malfoy had taken it and pulled it to his lips, smiling seductively at her_. Well, for all of her supposed brains, Deidre sure melted easily. Not that I should talk_, thought Minnie. She took her hand back and Malfoy moved on. He arrived at his seat, sat Blaise down then sat down himself. The rest of Slytherin pulled out their wands and held them over their plates, "Draco."

The name rumbled through the Hall as the small, silver dragons appeared.

But, they started flickering out a bit too soon. Then, one by one, they popped, and in their place appeared, - _roast chickens_?

Draco Malfoy let out an inarticulate sound of rage as he stood, staring unbelievingly down at the table. The Slytherins were staring in horror as these featherless –_were they turkeys maybe_? – squawked, turned around once or twice, looking desperate and confused, then petered out.

Almost as one, the Hall turned to look toward the same spot, at a table decorated in red and gold. 

Harry Potter was playing with his wand absentmindedly, grinning up at the stormy sky above them. However, Hermione Granger was shaking helplessly against him, her head on his shoulder and her entire body writhing, tears leaking out of her eyes. Others sitting close by were also smiling helplessly, some shrugging or shaking their heads amusedly.

Several Slytherins stood, wands raised and poised, but before curses could fly, red sparks came from the Head Table. Dumbledore was standing, wand in hand, with an amused look on his face. _Well, he was a Gryffindor, wasn't he?_ Students who had been standing returned to their seats, several of the younger students had begun fleeing the Hall, fearful of being caught in the crossfire of the battle that seemed eminent. 

Slytherins looked mad enough to chew nails while Gryffindors looked highly amused. Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws looked at each other in wonder and anticipation.

"Would Mrrs. Potter and Malfoy please join me in the antechamber immediately following breakfast? And would their Houses kindly refrain from retaliatory actions in their absence? Those who would attempt to curse those from another House would find themselves in sorry trouble indeed. Thank you," he concluded before stepping across the raised dais that was the Head Table and into the aforementioned antechamber. Professor Snape and Professor McGonagall both rose and drew their wands, supervising the other's table. The Slytherins looked resentfully at their Transfigurations teacher while the Gryffindors warily eyed the end of the Potion Master's wand. 

Harry Potter rose, still smiling widely, raised Hermione Granger's hand to his lips, eyes twinkling merrily and jauntily strode off after Dumbledore, leaving a Hermione still shaking in laughter. She was now leaning weakly against Ronald Weasley, who seemed inclined to burst out laughing himself, and was earning herself murderous looks from a large part of the female population of Hogwarts.

Draco Malfoy, still smarting from the roast chicken insult, also rose, though he stalked off into the anteroom with considerably less good humor and grace than Potter.

The Hall waited in silence and baited breath before the door opened and Dumbledore stepped out. He seemed completely unconcerned with the avid looks everyone, including the teachers were giving him, he went to his chair and pulled the coffee pot closer to him. He poured himself a cup and took a sip. Frowning, he tapped his wand over it, sipped at it again, then relaxed back into his chair, the cup still in both hands. Only then did he seem to notice the looks. Still, he did nothing but look calmly out over the crowd, still sipping at intervals. 

Abruptly, the door to the anteroom opened and Harry Potter walked out. He stopped just outside, turned and closed the door behind him. He walked back to his seat normally, where he picked up his bag and said a few words to Weasley and Granger (who had finally been able to control her laughter). They nodded and rose, Virginia Weasley joining them and they walked out of the Hall, seemingly ignoring the questing stares everyone save Dumbledore was sending them. 

Once they were out, gazes shifted to focus themselves once more on the door to the anteroom, but they waited in vain. The last minute bells were ringing and teachers and students were leaving while Slytherin waited in vain for its King. Eventually, they were forced to leave, following an order from Theodore Nott and the Hall emptied.

***

Transfiguration might have been Minnie's favorite subject, it didn't make her any better at it. They were attempting to switch a raven's beak with that of a budgie today. Only, so far, Minnie had managed just about any combination except that one. She'd placed quills, pieces of parchment, a book and even her partner's wand on the raven's face… everything except the budgie's beak. It was depressing. Of course, her partner wasn't helping. Eleanor had come to sit by her before she could be rescued by either Tyler or Kevin, who were now partnered together and obviously doing very well. Working with Eleanor, by itself, wasn't anything new. However, working with a silent, almost angry Eleanor was something Minnie had never even seen done before. She raked her memory for any particular offense she might have committed that would merit such a punishment but came up empty. So, she just settled for ignoring the seething girl next to her and concentrating on the raven in front of her. 

The end of the lesson approached, and along with it, the confrontation that seemed imminent, if Eleanor's movements were anything to be believed.

"What's going on with you and Owen?" came her accusatory voice.

"Nothing much, we're good friends," Minnie had been expecting much, _but a question about Owen?_

"How friendly?" again, the same vicious voice.

"I'm not so sure…." 

"Try me." flat voice now.

"Well, he asked me out… we just haven't done anything together to confirm it, you know…"

"He asked you out? _He_ asked _you_ out! Who do you think you're kidding?" disbelief and hostility written out on Eleanor's pretty face, twisting it into something else.

"What's so unbelievable with that?" asked Minnie, feeling hurt.

"Yeah right, as if anyone would ever ask you out! You're… Minnie. You're just Minnie for Merlin's sake!"

"Hey!"

"Oh don't look so surprised. Seriously, that anyone would consider you…" The bell had rung moments before and students had begun leaving, but Eleanor paid that no notice. Suddenly, Minnie felt an arm come around her, coming to rest on her shoulder, with a chin coming to rest on her head.

"What's going on here?" 

"Owen!" Eleanor looked flustered, but she recovered the offensive quickly. "So that's what it is, is it?" She nodded looking completely sure of herself now, "If you think that this is going to fool the Court for a single instant, you're both delusional."

"What does the Court have to do with this?" asked Owen innocently.

"Hah! Don't even try it, Owen! This is just some ploy to try to get back into Zacharias' good graces! And you" she rounded on Minnie, "You think this is going to pursuade Hannah that you're not thinking about Potter! This is just some lame farce. It doesn't fool me and neither will it fool the others." She finished with a triumphant glow on her face, picked up her bag and flounced out of the classroom. Laura, who had come up behind her at the end of class looked at Minnie uncertainly, then turned and followed her friend out. The classroom was now empty, save for Minnie and Owen, Owen's arms still around her, and Tyler and Kevin who were leaning against the doorframe. 

"We won't even pretend we didn't hear that," said Tyler, matter of factly.

"All we want to know, is if that had any grain of truth to it," continued Kevin, looking intently at Minnie, _probably because I can't lie convincingly,_ she thought._ Let Owen handle this, it was his idea._

"Of course not!" he answered defensively. "Why does there have to be an ulterior motive for me to go out with Minnie?"

"Oh, there need be no reason," said Tyler calmly, even though Kevin seemed as though he wanted to add something. "Come now, we have Binns next and I want a seat next to the window."

She left, with Kevin reluctantly following her. Owen and Minnie slowly disengaged themselves as they were left alone.

"This is going to be harder than I thought," said Owen softly.

"I could have told you that," Minnie murmured.

"If even Eleanor…" he said the name with distaste, "If even she can tell what we're doing… I'm going to be kicked off the Quidditch team for sure."

"We'll simply have to try harder," Minnie wasn't used to seeing Owen as other than the headstrong, confident boy she'd gotten used to over the past four years. 

"How?" he snorted.

"Meet me in the Common Room after supper, don't run off with Kevin," she answered.

"Okay," that got a slight beginning of a smile from him. "Come on, we've got class."

He turned to go, but before he could leave, Minnie caught up with him and grabbed his hand. He looked surprised at that and opened his mouth to speak. Minnie didn't let him, she pulled him through the door after her and marched off to History of Magic, never letting go of his hand. Her fast pace gradually slowed down as they approached, her death grip on his hand also loosened, letting it fall into a more intimate grasp. 

Tyler and Kevin were standing lightly to the side, muttering animatedly. They turned when Minnie and Owen approached. Minnie also sensed Eleanor and Laura's furious gazes on her as she walked towards her other friends. They had class with the Ravenclaws. That meant that Orla Quirke was standing not too far off and she could feel Owen tense briefly. But he soon relaxed and when they finally stopped in front of Kevin and Tyler, he let go of her hand, to encircle her waist, from the side.

Tyler raised an eyebrow but said nothing. Kevin only cocked his head to the side, as if considering the two and said, "You make a charming couple."

***

Supper was a relatively quiet affair. Draco Malfoy was back, pale as ever but it seemed a dark and forbidding cloud hung over his head, no one was speaking directly to him, that Minnie could see. He was stabbing furiously at his chicken and Minnie remembered that, though Gryffindors held a reputation for pride, Slytherins did as well. Potter and his friends would do best to watch their backs.

Minnie was sitting with Owen, Kevin and Tyler, as Eleanor and Laura seemed to want nothing to do with her anymore. They were deliberately avoiding anything revolving around any possible relationship between Minnie and Owen, a discretion Minnie felt was owed to Tyler. The other three were going over the events of the morning, mainly the 'chicken incident' as it was now known. They were also speculating as to what had gone on in the anteroom. As they seemed fully preoccupied, Minnie was free to speak to the person sitting next to her.

"Holly? Can I ask you something?" 

The fifth year turned away from her friends and raised an eyebrow, "Sure."

"How often do we, I mean, how often does the You-Know-What meet?"

"Oh, that! Well, usually once a week, we try to go for Tuesdays. But you can go in there whenever you want, you know."

"Can the books that were up on the balcony leave the Chamber?"

"Oh yeah, they're perfectly normal books. Getting started on those Charms, are you?"

"I want to try."

"Well, good luck. Just remember, when you're in there, watch your back. Though, no one can attack you when you're up on the balcony, or on the stair."

"Oh, thanks," but Holly had already turned back to her friends.

"What was that about?" asked Owen, who'd been looking at her.

"Oh, nothing. Well, it has to do with my punishment, that's all."

"Oh," and he too, turned away.

***

Minnie only had a vague idea of what she wanted to do with Owen. What she knew, was that they had to make it look slightly more serious than just holding hands in the corridors. And that meant… he should have been the one to initiate. after all, this whole mess was his idea. But if they stopped now, Eleanor would be vindicated and the Court would know that the whole thing had been a set-up. They were stuck.

Minnie had kept Owen behind as the others went up the stair to Hufflepuff Chambers. Once again, she reached for his hand. He must have been thinking along the same lines as she had because he brushed her hand aside and once again, put his arm around her shoulders. She appreciated the effort and lay her head on his shoulder.

They entered the Common Room in that way and Minnie steered him over to the large chair she'd sat in two nights previous. It was large enough to seat two people, if they were pressed together. Owen raised an eyebrow and eyes seemed to ask, "Are you sure?" Minnie simply pushed him down and came to settle against him, her head on his chest.

He began the conversation, his voice rumbling through his chest, under Minnie's ear.

"This is strangely intimate, you know," he spoke softly, so no one would hear. 

She smiled, "I know. But we have to do more than pretend."

"What does that mean?" he said slowly. 

"That means that pretend isn't going to fool Eleanor and the others." She raised her head, placing a hand on his chest where her head had rested. She faced him, "I'm going to truly be your girlfriend."

His eyes were gazing intently at her, as though he couldn't believe she was saying this. To be honest, she knew that this didn't fit with the image she had, of being a brainy, prude, mussy, plain bookworm.

She brought the hand from his chest to his lips, tracing their contour. His eyes darkened and he opened his mouth to speak, but she moved her hand to put a single finger on his lips, forbidding him to speak, "I know, I know. In mind, you're going to be thinking of someone else. I can live with that, but in body, you're going to be mine." She marked a pause, "Can you understand that?"

He shut his eyes briefly, the only sign of acknowledgement she supposed she was going to get. She could see Eleanor and Laura glaring at her from the other side of the Common Room. She felt a surge of anger and of… power. She looked Owen straight in the eyes and moved in. She brushed her lips over his for a moment then began to move them, pressing a little harder. After his surprise melted away, she felt his begin to move in response, though his body remained still under her. She sucked on his lower lip as she brought her hand back to his face, cupping his cheek, brushing over the skin with her thumb. Finally, she brought her tongue out, caressing his still closed lips, pressuring them to open. However, when he finally did open his lips, it seemed to break a dam in him. He brought his arms up, encircling her, one hand on her lower back, caressing, the other rising to entangle itself in her hair. His own tongue came out to move with hers. It was an exploration of his mouth, tasting him, running her tongue over his teeth and over his palate. He had no particular taste, just that of the chicken they'd eaten for supper, but the pressure of his mouth created a powerful feeling in her. And as she reveled in it, Owen took control of the kiss. It was his turn to taste her, to explore her own mouth and then ease away, kissing up her jaw line to her earlobe. Then the sensitive skin behind the ear as she rolled her head to one side to allow him access. He kissed her ear, running his tongue up the ridge on top, nibbling on the lobe, then brushing his lips down her neck, coming to a stop a the top of her robes, where he buried his face in the black fabric.

She eventually pulled away, easing off his lap, coming down on the ground, kneeling so she could look up at him. He looked lost, tears were forming at the corners of his eyes. 

"Sorry," he said, brushing them away.

"No, you have nothing to be sorry for. That was my idea, remember?"

"Was that your first time?"

She nodded, she'd been rather nervous about this.

"It should have been with someone you really cared for…" he trailed off. Minnie felt a heaviness in her heart; he was right.

"It's too late for that now," she forced a smile. "And we're going to have to continue that way, for a while, you know."

"Thank you," he said before falling silent. 

She smiled sadly at him, then rose and headed to her dormitory. She felt tired all of a sudden. 

She saw Laura begin to rise to follow her but was pulled down by Eleanor before she could fully get to her feet. Tyler was watching her progress, but she too stayed put, curled up with her book. Marc and Kevin had been playing Exploding Snap off to a side, but their attention was on her. She was grateful when she reached the corridor that led to her dormitory and could shield herself from all those stares.

She lay in bed for a while, sleepy, but not enough so to actually drift away. She kept re-playing her first kiss in her mind. It hadn't been at all what she'd imagined. It hadn't been passionate or desperate, it had merely been experimenting, exploratory. It hadn't left her breathless or panting, clinging to the arm of the person she'd kissed. And as for the person, she hadn't felt joined in any way. She'd wanted a connection, but she'd had a rude awakening. She'd felt separate from Owen, as though he'd merely been flesh beneath her to be tasted and played with.

But then again, she'd always heard that first kisses were disappointing, that they very rarely lived up to expectations. For that matter, Owen didn't live up to her expectations of a romantic interest either. Her romantic interest… what a cold way of describing him. She pictured him, the ideal person she'd want to kiss. She saw him clearly; tall, lean, intense, protective. The picture became more and more precise, she could see almost every detail, from the vivid green eyes to the lightning shaped bolt on his forehead… _oh no_, she groaned. _Not again_!

But she couldn't help it. She imagined being in his arms, arms that were so much stronger than Owen's, pressed up against a chest much broader than Owen's, with lips much softer than Owen's exploring her neck. _No_! She couldn't do this to herself. She was with Owen, she had to accept it.

But a first kiss… how were they supposed to be? In books and in the movies she'd seen with her cousin… It was supposed to be moment fraught with passion and desire, both people not able to get enough of the other. It was supposed to be a moment where you fell into his arms, in tears maybe and he would bend to kiss them away… Or maybe it was after he'd done something exceptional… and he'd be pumping adrenaline so much that he'd sweep you off your feet… Or else, it would be the complete non-entity that she'd just shared with Owen. Separate. Emotionless. Dull.

A lot like Owen, in fact.

A lot like herself too.

Was that why she burned for someone who actually lived the passion and the adventure she only dreamed about? She could still see him, the emblem of all that she was not. She could see him conquering the basilisk. She pictured him fighting Dementors. She saw him dueling Lord Voldemort, and winning where so many had failed. 

She steeled her mind, bringing it back to more practical, realistic matters. Tomorrow, she would go to find the Dueling Chamber. She'd find some books that would help her and then she'd start to work on the charms. She'd create some good ones and once again find herself in the good graces of the Court. Owen would be rehabilitated in front of Zacharias and this charade would stop. It would. _It would_, she told herself as she drifted away, caught on the endless river of sleep.

********************************************************************************************************

A/N: Thank you soooooooo much to those who reviewed! (And shame on those who didn't)

Merlana: I was nervous about doing a Dueling Club, especially after OOTP came out and everyone started modeling them on the DA. I'm really thankful that you thought it was okay!

Anon: Yes, Harry is perfect. There's a reason for that, but it's not explained for another five or six chapters. On the other hand, we are only seeing him through the eyes of a small girl who not only has a huge crush on him, but also only sees him in public.

Yellowpages: I'm starting to get really scared. After all, you seem to like the story so much and I'm afraid that you won't like where this story is going… But I still love you and adore you for reviewing!

Fang-three-claw: * blushes** *** gee, thanks! You're right, there was no way to follow into sixth year. I will have references to OOTP (think along the lines of a certain prophecy, hmmm…) Funny thing is, I had most of this planned out and written before I read OOTP. I was amazing that I was able to slightly change the wording at the end and the whole thing actually worked! This is a kind of "uberHarry" fic, but the ending is _very_ different from most of those that I read (although I love most of them anyway- The Red Dragons Order and Naia are amazing writers in that department!).

Joshval124: thank you, I've read more fics than I thought even possible to write and I can assure you that this story will be quite different (but then again, there aren't many who choose to use a naïve OC Hufflepuff as a point of view).


	6. And so it begins

__

Dammit! Where _was_ she? 

Minnie had gone in search of the Dueling Chamber, skipping dinner in order to do so, but she had to admit she was lost. It seemed like hours after she'd set out and now felt certain that she knew almost as much of Hogwarts as the legendary Weasley twins. She'd been everywhere; she'd seen dungeons and she'd climbed towers. She'd walked past windowed galleries just as she'd gone through corridors that were cut off from the outside world. She'd seen ghosts she'd never seen before, and one particularly gruesome, covered in blood and grime had laughed when she'd shrieked as she'd stumbled upon it. But she'd also seen students… Orla Quirke and Stewart Ackerly almost concealed in an alcove… _poor Owen_, two Slytherin sixth years heading towards the Astronomy Tower… She'd even come across Hermione Granger, who'd swept past her without noticing her, striding purposefully towards some unknown destination. She'd seen some other younger Gryffindors prowling around, she must have been near Gryffindor Tower at that time. She'd almost come across a group of Ravenclaws coming back from an Astronomy class; it was really getting quite late.

Breakfast had been a normal affair, a bit tense maybe, what with the Slytherin and Gryffindor Kings staring daggers at each other. Whatever words Dumbledore had had with the two, they seemed to have for once sunk in and the open animosity between the Houses was held tightly under wraps.

Classes had gone off well, more or less. Eleanor and Laura were studiously ignoring her. Tyler was acting distant again, burying herself in books. Kevin had spent most of the day with Marc, and that had left Owen with her. They'd tried to act like a couple; holding hands in the corridors, making a lot of eye contact, even touching when it wasn't entirely necessary. They'd spent the day like that… it had settled into some sort of routine… still not matching up to anything Minnie had ever wanted or even expected from a relationship. She'd found herself daydreaming about Gryffindors more than once during the day… once again imagining his arms around her… she was beyond help. So that was why she'd set off after supper… she needed something to occupy her mind. Working on a new charm would be just the thing. Now she just needed to find the bloody room!

Minnie thought she could see movement at the end of the corridor, a tall shape moving in her direction. She ducked behind a statue, not wanting to be caught out at this time. Draco Malfoy moved past her, wrapped up in a long, dark cloak that concealed half of his face. But, if he thought that it would allow him to pass incognito, he was counting without his signature, platinum blond hair. He moved purposefully past her, without noticing her, disappearing at the corner. Minnie didn't want to be a Gryffindor out late tonight… she thought of the group she'd seen earlier. If Malfoy caught them out… she didn't want to think about that.

Ah! There it was! She was standing at an intersection of Tudor and baroque architecture, but that staircase was definitely Roman. 

And once she'd climbed it, she spotted the corridor, the statues still as she remembered them. She saw the sword at the end and headed for it. But something was weighing on her. She was missing something pretty obvious, but what? She turned to one of the knights. They were all in chain mail, with their cloaks draped artfully over their shoulders. They had heroic stances; each looked almost alive, as if they were only momentarily stopped in the act of fighting an unseen enemy. Underneath their feet, on the stones that served as pedestals, words had been etched. Minnie went closer and read; **Tristan**. _Suspicions confirmed_. She moved on. **Perceval. Gauvain. Lancelot. Kay. Bedivere. Balyn. Balan**. And finally, next to the sword… **Lancelot**. And if they were all here, that could only mean… sure enough, on the hilt of the large sword; **Excalibur**. Whoever designed this place had a sense of symbolism and dramatics to overshadow even Slytherins.

Minnie grasped the hilt, holding it tight and uttering the password, a word which had its own significance too, "_En guarde_." 

__

En guarde. 

On guard, against your opponent. 

__

On guard, watch your back. And the wall moved in, allowing her to pass and walk into it.

She found herself in the Chamber, once again. She wasn't alone. Two figures were dueling, one standing in the center of the cross, the other moving in slow circles around it. It was as if a silent movie was being played out; the chamber was utterly silent, the spells being cast were being done without voice, it was purely mental magic… not something everyone could easily achieve. A silent movie --- or a ballet. The figures moved fluidly and purposefully, turning, advancing, dodging, shielding… exaggerated movements that seemed to follow a music only those in the circle could hear. 

Minnie remembered Holly's words of warning and headed for the Hufflepuff stairs. She went up and soon found herself looking through the selection of books that was now at her disposal. She decided on Rules of Dueling, just to have some ideas as to what was legal and what wasn't, and Encyclopedia of Attack Charms; How to Inflict Damage Without Hurt. The second book looked like it would be a good anthology of what to know if ever she was pressed to go out on that floor. She edged closer to the balcony, peering over.

He was still standing where he'd been before, gazing intently at the figure that was moving around him. Professor McGonagall was as calm and dignified as she always was, though Minnie had never seen her fight. She'd seen her cast spells, yes, and even heard of her power, but now she was seeing it first hand. She couldn't identify half of the spells that were flying towards the center of the cross, and of those she knew, she'd only seen a few in action. 

But the ferocity and technique of the attack hadn't fazed Harry Potter one bit. He waited in the center of the floor, moving his feet only when necessary to turn and face his opponent. His face revealed no emotions other than a slight uplifting of a corner of his lips; he was quietly enjoying himself. He casually waved his wand in front of him, at the onslaught of spells heading his way, and they simply faded. He waited for the professor to gather her breath as she moved again, forcing him to turn slightly so as to still be facing her. Utter silence. And then McGonagall began again. And so it went… the level of charms and curses was amazing, this was beyond educational. Or it would have been, had Minnie been able to identify the curses and charms now, this was upper level work… and she couldn't wait until she could try her hand at this. 

Finally, it stopped. Potter merely raised his hand and Professor McGonagall's wand flew out of her grasp, into his hand. He grinned at his teacher, who gave him a nod, the only levity allowed it seemed. The professor walked towards Potter, who held out her wand which she took. She bowed to him, shocking Minnie, then turned and left the Chamber. Minnie walked back to the shelf, imagining all the action downstairs to be finished. She selected another book, Shielding Yourself From the Worst, and putting in her bag with the others. She then went down the steps, making it almost to the exit before she realized she wasn't as alone as she'd thought. 

He was still standing there, on the white star in the center of the cross. He was staring at her, evaluating her. And --- she felt --- finding her lacking. 

She'd had enough of this. Of him. Because of him, she was in trouble with the Court. Because of him, she was having to research spells for others. Because of him, she was going out with Owen. Because of him, she'd wasted her first kiss on a worthless boy…

"What do you want?" she snarled, her voice shattering the silence, startling her. 

"What do you seek?" he countered as he grinned. _What_?

"What are you playing at?" her voice trembled, making her pathetic attempt at bravery sound _sooo_ cliche.

"Am I playing?" He said, mocking her, a smile pulling at the corners of his mouth. 

She couldn't bear this. Enough. It was seeing him, speaking to him, combined with the stress she hadn't known had accumulated over the past few days. And now she had an outlet for it. She dropped her bag with a loud _thunk_ as she pulled out her wand, the sudden action contrasting with the silence of moments before.

"_Expelliarmus! Stupefy! Rictusempra! Inverso! Tarantallegra! Impedimenta!_" they came pouring out, without order or strategy.

Harry didn't even counter them, he merely ducked, falling to one knee. Minnie stopped and looked at him. Again, the immobility that surrounded him, as if he too was one of the statues of bygone heroes that lined the corridor outside. Himself, on one knee, his robes spread around him, his wand arm resting on his knee. And the smile that was threatening to break out on his face. Minnie had stepped closer with every spell she'd cast. She was now at the edge of the dais, a foot away from stepping onto the purple marble, inches away from the white. 

"You know," he said, rising, "Proper duelers stand on the dueling surface. Those who cast from outside of it are considered back stabbers." Irony there, on the fact that all of Hufflepuff considered him to be one himself. "Come now, step onto the surface. Face me bravely, let's see how long you last." He smirked, the challenge now open.

Minnie saw red. She took a deep breath and stepped onto the white. Then the purple. The floor seemed to grow, or else she seemed to shrink. It was so smooth, so wide; it gave the impression of flying. She raised her wand again, "_Expelliarmus_!' she cried.

"_Protego_! Come on now, you can do better than that!" he tossed back.

"Inverso!"

"Not any better!"

"_Sangrify_!"

"Keep going!"

"_Locomotor Mortis_!" she shrieked.

He merely laughed and dodged that one too.

"_Os brisés_!"

"No good!"

It wasn't any good. How could she, a pathetic Hufflepuff fourth year with no particular talent in casting spells, ever successfully attack anyone, much less the god before her? Conceding defeat, she lowered her wand, still glowering at the highly amused boy who stood with his arms crossed. Seeing that she wasn't going to leave, struggling desperately to conserve the little dignity she had left, the Gryffindor King took mercy on Minnie. He uncrossed his arms and turned on his heels, turning his back to her and leaving the Dueling Surface. At the sight of the lean, strong, _unprotected_ back, the rage that had been festering in Minnie's stomach flared again.

"_Tiago_!" A bolt of orange light left her wand and grazed Harry's cheek. He paused mid-step, raising his hand to the thin trickle of blood coming from the gash on his face. He looked at the blood on his hand, then back over his shoulder, raising a brow at her. His wand appeared in his hand which all of a sudden was pointed at her, and it was over. Minnie lay on the ground, face down, unable to move and unable to see- but not unable to feel. The power emanating from the center of the circle was palpable. Minnie waited for the curse that would further wound her, more than her pride already had been. But then-

"You wouldn't dare! Kincaid, back me up on this, you would strike a defeated woman?" the voice was deep and slow and came from above. Minnie felt tears threaten, so they hadn't been alone? People had seen her lose her temper in that way? She felt the pressure that had been immobilizing her lessen and found she could sit up. She opened her eyes in time to see the creature that landed between her and Potter.

It was… odd. The head of a lion, the body of a badger, the tail of a serpent and the wings of an eagle… _the House mascots_, Minnie realized with a jolt, _all in one._

"Ah, you're still active. Good, good! Well, stand up then! Never stay bent in the face of an enemy, it's a sign of weakness!" His voice was deep, very deep. It also sounded unnatural, as though it were a hiss, a roar, a grumble and a screech, rolled into one. "So, feeling better, Minnie?" it asked.

"Quite. Who are you?" she answered, quite forgetting that she'd just been thrown down quite hard on her face only moments ago.

She heard a snort from the center of the circle. "You haven't heard, with all the rumors about this place, of our spirit?" asked Harry scornfully.

"I've heard of a ghost. And- and a… a veela? It had something to do with revenge…" she trailed off. 

"Conroy is no ghost, nor does he deal in revenge. And he most definitely is not a veela - just look at his ugly mug. He is however, the spirit of this room. He arbitrates the duels and steps in before someone gets seriously hurt. Though he usually stays silent during meets." Harry was grinning at the animal, which seemed to be grinning back.

"Right." Minnie was beginning to feel normal again, after all, after the emotional turmoil she'd been going through all day and after all the changes and discoveries she'd made in the past few days, one more didn't matter. And Harry wasn't mad at her anymore. She did have one question though, "And where's the other person?"

"Who?" both the creature and Harry asked, looking confused.

"The person you were talking too when I was down? You know, Kincaid?" she elaborated.

"Oh," said the animal, "that's him," pointing with a paw to Harry, who looked rather put out.

"You prat! My name is _Harry_!" he growled, rolling his eyes. Turning to Minnie, he said, "The beast decided that he didn't like my name, so he simply gave me another one. Without asking me whether or not I liked it."

"A name needs not be liked. A name needs to describe the person it belongs to. And that name fits you," the animal stated, nodding its head and leaving no doubt about the matter.

"How so?" Minnie asked curiously, she'd never heard the name before.

"It doesn't. It's just his way of being aggravating. I'm from Surrey and he goes and picks some Celtic name whose meaning has nothing to do with me." Harry spat, "It means 'battle chief.' Something which I most emphatically am not!"

"Aren't you? I recall several battles actually, in which you most definitely led," the creature answered calmly.

"Gahhh!" A most unsophisticated sound from the Boy-Who-Lived who Summoned his bag and stormed out of the Chamber. Leaving Minnie with the animal.

"So," she asked nervously under his mildly polite gaze, "you're completely impartial, right?"

"Mostly, I do favor some students more than others," it admitted cheerfully. 

"Ah! I see." She bit her lip, "And this name thing, do you do that to everyone?"

"Oh no no no! Only to those who haven't been quite aptly named!"

"I see." Then, all of a sudden curious, "so what does 'Harry' mean?"

Conroy smiled at her, "Interested? _Why_ is it they all stare at _him_ and not at me? Am _I _not a charming beast?" Looking thoughtfull, "Well, 'Harry,' in old English, means 'soldier.' And of course Harry Potter is no mere soldier, he's destined to be much more than that. But 'Harry' is also a short form of 'Harold' and a modification of 'Henry.' 'Harold,' is Scandinavian and means 'Army-ruler.' I admit that that was close, but it wasn't spot on; he doesn't rule, he just takes over by his presence. 'Henry' in old german, means 'ruler of an estate.' Now, he is heir to an old estate, but he ought to be known by his other deeds. No, I think I settled on a very appropriate name. Battle chief. He never tried to rise to anything, he just takes over command when it is needed. So, in time of peace, he would be nothing. But, in a storm, then he will rise to the occasion. And even exceed it."

It appeared that Minnie had finally found someone who could talk of random aspects of Harry just like she liked to do. But before that, "And your name, 'Conroy' does it have a special meaning? Something to do with kings maybe?"

"No, nothing like that," but he was looking at her appraisingly. "In Irish Gaelic, it means 'wise man.' It was a bit of a joke from the Founders, to call me a 'man.' But as I was supposed to arbitrate and settle disputes, they must have found it fitting somehow." He looked musingly at her, "And you, your full name can't be Minnie. What is your name?" He asked gallantly.

Oh no! Minnie went pink. "Oh, it's nothing. I'm sure it doesn't mean anything. When did you give Harry his name?"

"Nice try. What is it?"

"Oh, it's awful, really, completely uninteresting…"

Minnie didn't know that lions had eyebrows, but this one seemed to as the fur above its eye was elevated.

Minnie mumbled something.

"I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch that."

Minnie raised her head and whispered a bit louder, "Wilhelmina." She shuddered.

"Wilhelmina?" Conroy repeated.

"Yes! Shhhhhh! Don't spread it around, please!" she was frantic.

Conroy paid her no mind, "'Wilhelmina!' Well now, that'd be German, yes? 'Determined guardian,' I believe. Now now! It's not that bad. At least the name fits you somehow. I once had a student called Angus; 'Unique choice, one strength' Hah! He was small and slight. He truly hated his name. I think he tried to have his name changed, to 'Harry' in fact."

Minnie just had to know, "And when was that?"

"What century, you mean?" Minnie nodded. "Oh, sometime in the thirteenth. His father was Scottish though he felt mostly English. Quite an interesting boy, really."

"And what did you mean by my name fitting?"

"Well, you are determined, we saw that earlier. Not many would willingly take on our Kincaid. But you are hiding a secret aren't you? You're going to impossible lengths to hide it. I warn you though, you haven't picked a very easy path."

Minnie just gaped at him. _Was she really that transparent?_

"Now then," Conroy continued, changing tracks and becoming all business-like,

"I have never yet seen that spell you used on Kincaid. 'T_iago'_ I think was the incantation you used. Where did you find it?"

"I created it. All it does is cut or slash. My mother usually uses it when cooking at home because it causes nice deep cuts in meat. I only thought of another application when I was fighting."

"Yes, you were quite acceptable, you know. Then again, he wasn't even trying to counter or disarm you." He said this without a trace of mockery, just stating a fact. "With some good coaching, you could become pretty good. Of course, your ability to create spells will definitely give you an advantage."

"Would you teach me?" she asked, hopeful.

"No, I cannot. I'm to be impartial in my knowledge and if I were to teach you, I would be obliged to do the same to everyone. Which is something I do not care to do. You should find someone else to coach you."

"But I'm already in trouble with the Court. I don't think that they'd be very happy with a request for help…"

"In trouble? What for? Never mind, it's probably not all that important. No, none of the Hufflepuffs would do. None of them have the talent or any ability to teach to others."

"I resent that."

"You shouldn't," he responded flatly. "There are one or two Ravenclaws who can teach… Mandy Brocklehurst is quite good actually. The Slytherins are all right, but they rely too much on violent spells, not enough on technique. No, you'd need a Gryffindor. Now that's a gifted bunch. Granger, and the Weasleys all are pretty good. And of course, there's our dear Kincaid… I'll ask them to see to you."

"No!" She burst out, "Please, no! I'm in trouble for associating too closely with them allready!"

"Associating with them?"

"Well, I've been caught staring at them!" that sounded pretty stupid, she realized. 

"You'd give up your chance to learn proper dueling just for that?" the fur above his eyes rising again.

"I'd give up dueling in order to remain amongst friendly people, yes!"

Conroy shook his mane sorrowfully, "Talent, gone to waste. I've seen it before, but it's always a sad thing." He spread his wings and lifted off, spiraling upwards until he simply disappeared. 

Minnie collected her things and walked out of the chamber. Appearing once again next to the sword. _That was just weird_, she thought. _First, that amazing duel with Professor McGonagall, then the way he spoke to me, then the whole weird animal business, the names and the way Conroy acts. Would it be true that I have a talent? Other than Charming, of course. But I meant what I said. I will not furthur jeopardise my position. I'm on thin ice already. There's no sense in melting what's left keeping me afloat. _

Though, maybe I could come and talk more often with Conroy. He seems to know so much about everybody, he's a real treasure trove of information. I wonder how easily he would tell me about Harry? Maybe it's not so difficult… could Holly and the others have gotten their information that way? 

She hadn't bee paying close attention, so when the figure stepped out of the shadows and grabbed her arms, she cried out in surprise. 

"Hush now!" the voice was harsh and the body pressing her back into the shadows was strong. "Now what have we here?" Cold eyes searched her face, "A Hufflepuff… Cedric's cousin. What a find." Smirk. "Now, what would you be doing out in the halls at this late hour? Recently inducted into the Hufflepuff Dueling Team? Visiting the dueling Chamber, no doubt? Hoping to be able to beat us at the meet? Not going to happen, you know." He leaned in close, brushing his lips over her ears. "But we'll enjoy seeing you try." His tongue darted out as he nibbled her earlobe. That brought her back to her senses. She slammed her fists into his stomach which made him double over, coughing. She reached for her wand and pushed away from the wall, away from Draco Malfoy.

He too had his wand out and was standing again, looking at her intently. 

She was shaking in rage, too much was too much. "How - how dare you!" she managed to get out. "Have you no sense of decency? Wait, what a question!" she continued senselessly. "A Malfoy has no decency. They're rude, lecherous, depraved and utterly disgusting. You come near me again and I'll see to it that you never harm another girl again." After all, there were stories of what he'd done, she simply hoped she wasn't on the list. 

But he seemed completely unfazed by her words, "Feisty, are we?" And he took a step towards her.

"Emasculito!" she cried.

He cried out and bent over again. But this time, when he rose, there was a look of fear in his eyes. "What have you done?" he whispered loudly.

"I've simply been seeing to my virtue_. I_ come from a good family. _I_ come from a _respectable_ House. _You_ on the other hand…" She left it hang, smirked, turned and flounced off. A little voice in her head kept repeating the lines of a movie she'd seen; _I'm a good girl, I am!_

****

It was as she rose the following morning that she realized that what she'd done was probably a pretty bad idea. True, she'd simply cried out the first thing that had come to her mind… funny that that was the first thing she'd think about, _oh well!_ It wasn't permanent, she'd used the '–ito' suffix, so the hex would fade after a few days. But Malfoy probably wasn't going to be happy going around with one less appendage than he was used to. He probably wasn't going to be happy at all. _Great_. She was in trouble with the Hufflepuff Court. She was humiliated in the eyes of the Gryffindor Court. She now was going to be an object of revenge for the Slytherin Court. Now what could she do to offend the Ravenclaw Court? Well, actually, she'd need to offend both of them, as only offending one would elevate her in the other's opinion… Well, she had her work cut out for her, now didn't she…

Actually, she could use this, in a political sense. If anything happened to her on the account of the Slytherins, she'd have to explain what she'd done to Malfoy. And if she wasn't mistaken, that would go well with the Court. And it would also bring her into prominence, make her known outside of her year and maybe even her House. That would be good. Maybe Eleanor really was going to get a surprise. 

The common room was still mostly empty when she got to it. She wanted to get to breakfast without being attacked by Malfoy. Susan was standing by the fireplace, now coming to life, reading a note. Hannah was at a table, putting things in her bag while looking over a roll of parchment that had to be an essay. Susan called her over and showed her the note with a worried look on her face. Minnie saw this and wandered over to a couch where she thought she'd wait until one of the seventh years could escort her down to breakfast. 

She didn't see the girls come over to her and so jumped when Hannah put a hand on her shoulder and Susan pressed the note into her hand. Minnie looked down. The parchment looked old and expensive. It was tinted green and there was a serpent at the top. _Uh-oh_.

Minnie Beaufort's presence is required tonight at the Dueling Chamber at seven thirty exactly for a duel with Draco Malfoy. Not to the death, but to disarm would this be, though should she fear Slytherin strength, we are prepared to receive her apologies and have her perform certain services to the offended party. 

Would her Chief of House please accompany her and be a witness her duel.

"Care to explain?" asked Hannah.

"Because this sounds reeeeeeeally fascinating," added Susan.

****

A/N: Hehehe, I really hate this chapter. If I were a reader reviewing this chapter, I'd immediately flame. I mean, first of all, the secret guardian thing is just _sooo_ overdone. I suppose that at least I didn't have him take Minnie in hand and start teaching her, turning her into this amazingly annoying and aggravating Mary-Sue type character. Well, I have to bring Conroy back into play for Chapter 7 (only for a couple of lines) and Chapter 8 (just for a brief conversation at the beginning), however, if I get enough people telling me that he's really too much of a cliché, I'll conveniently forget about him for the rest of the story. 

Also, I present my excuses for my mistreatment of Draco Malfoy. I adore the guy in fandom, I mean, almost all my favorite fanfics are H/D slash! However, the Draco of this story is quite a bit more canon. Let's face it, there's no way J.K. Rowling is going to turn Draco so completely in the two books she's got left to work with (his father helped in killing Sirius- there's no way Harry is ever going to make friends with him, no matter how hard Dumbledore might beg)! However, my excuses have mainly to do with the fact that no seriously evil guy would ever do that to Minnie, as she's completely worthless in every aspect of the term. There is a reason for his assaulting her however… just bear with me here. (You can probably guess why by really looking at what he says).

Now then, I love you guys. Seriously, every time I'd open my mailbox and see the reviews, I'd have this huge smile on my face that terrified my friends. 

Nightwing 509- Hey, I update when I get reviews.

Oasis- You like the glorification og Harry? You picked the right story to read then. I read stories that have Harry as a minor character and everything, but I immediately leave if they say anything bad about him. It's pathetic and I know I'm missing out on a bunch of good fics, but I'm obsessed! As for Draco in the antechamber… we only find that out in about five chapters! Hang in there!

He who cant write- Thank you for the review! I'm sorry but I can't do a chapter from Harry's point of view! The only way I can get away with the ridiculous glorification of all of Harry qualities and even defaults is because I'm writing from a biased, lovestruck, idiotic little girl! If I did a Harry POV, he'd either sound so stuck up and full of himself or then horribly modest or self-devaluating! I couldn't do that to him! However, I will try to insert another House skirmish into Chapter 8 or 9 for you (there are another two in the story anyway!)

Innocent-Elphie- Arghhhh! No! No! No! Harry and Minnie WILL NEVER be together! NEVER! NEVER! Ohmigosh, where did you get that idea? I would never do that to the poor guy! There will be someone paired with Harry (see Chapter 8… when I post it) but it will be a wholly conventional pairing. I wish I could write some slash, but I suck at that (whenever I try it just sounds _wrong_) and besides, all te yummy guys to pair him with are evil.

Joshval124- Neutral? You think Minnie's neutral? Gosh, I'd have to see what you think a _biased_ viewpoint would be! But I'm really glad you like the viewpoint! 

Leper Messiah and Blue Crayon- I love your name! I wish I could have come up with something cool like that (but no, I just had to try to mutilate an old woman's last name…. grumble) I agree, the politics thing is over the top, but the plot bunny came to me like that and none of the story would work without it.

Tapaidh Sidh- Thank goodness, someone reassuring me that Minnie's not a Mary-Sue! You have no idea how much I hate those! But I had to create a character which I could then try to make blend into the background… J.K. Rowling just doesn't seem to have had any extra laying around that I could use! Thank you soooo much for your review!

Fang Three-Claw-You're really going to hate me. Harry will "fulfill his potential" … but probably not in the way you think. You know, if I'm sorta late updating, its kinda your fault! I went and read those fics you suggested (well, the ones I hadn't read yet). You don't seem to be into slash at all. If you don't have anything against it, there are a bunch that are actually pretty cool (Harry Potter and Gaining Momentum, fics by minerva alistor, and fics by Dkstories). Otherwise, have you ever read Paradigm of Uncertainty on schnoogle? It's the fic that got me reading fanfiction! I hadn't paid much attention to any stories at all until I read throught the first three chapters of that… and I've been worshipping Lori Summers ever since then!

Yellowpages- And my steadfast reviewer returns! Gosh I love you! You think you might have been anti-social when OOTP came out? Hey, I had my test for passing a belt level in karate that day! Something went wrong with the post which meant I had to spend the whole day waiting in vain to receive it! So there I was passing my test with my teacher telling me to do these sequences of punches and kicks and all I could think about was Quidditch, Hogwarts, Diagon Alley and the Dursleys. It wasn't pretty. Needless to say, I did not move up the amount of levels I was expected to! However, once I got my hands on that book later on, I didn't put it down until I was done (it took me three and a half hours- I read really fast). And then of course, I spent the next two weeks dissecting every tasty tidbit I could find.


	7. Playing with Fire

Title: Holding Court

Rating: PG-13

Summary: WARNING: this story is an unabashed celebration of Harry Potter's uniqueness and powers. Anyone who would prefer to see another character glorified, turn away please!

Hogwarts is divided amongst the four Houses. As physical violence increases, a Hufflepuff fourth year watches as her hero fulfills his destiny. Set in Harry's seventh year, doom approaches. But where is the real war; between the Houses or against the Dark Lord?

It could have been worse. Minnie had managed not to tell about having seen Harry in the Dueling chamber and having the whole name conversation, she'd only said she'd gone to find books to research with and been caught by Malfoy in the hall. At least Susan and Hannah hadn't been angry with her, in fact they thought what she'd done to Malfoy quite funny. But they were worried for her, and with reason. They'd explained what was going to happen.

This would be a private duel, meaning that the whole of the Dueling club would not attend. Of course, since they wouldn't be allowed to enter the Chamber for a time that evening, someone would have to explain to them why, and it wouldn't take long before every one knew that she was dueling against the King of Slytherin.

So, the only people inside the chamber would be the House rulers, Conroy, the seconds and Minnie. The four rulers were supposed to stand equidistantly apart off the dais, while the seconds stood on the circle edge. The four rulers would be there as official witnesses, the seconds the seconds were there as support. Usually, the seconds would take over the duel when the one they stood for would fall. But for some reason or another, that wouldn't happen… As Malfoy would be dueling himself, the Slytherin spot might stand empty, or else the next ranking Slytherin would stand in his place.

And so the rules were simple. Minnie had to stay inside the dueling surface (_flashback of Harry calling her a back-stabber_). She could use just about any curse she chose as long as it wasn't lethal or Unforgivable. The first person to take the other person's wand won.

It sounded rather simple. Except she was going up against the darkest wizard Hogwarts had to offer. Maybe she should have gotten Conroy to ask for help for her. But it was too late now.

Breakfast passed fairly quickly. Minnie was beginning to grow used to waiting for a member of the court to walk her down from Hufflepuff chambers. She was aware of the dark looks emanating from the Slytherin table, but Hannah had decreed that Minnie wasn't to walk the halls alone, and so at least two seventh years would turn up at the end of class to act as escorts. Owen found this particularly amusing, as did Kevin. As they were trying to keep up the pretence that they were in love with each other, Minnie and Owen held hands whenever they could. Before Minnie had to leave him to go off to Arithmancy while Owen left for Divinations, he'd pressed his lips to hers in a clumsy kiss, which the two benevolent seventh years accompanying her did their best to ignore. Minnie held no real opinion of this kiss, not like she had of their first one, which she believed to be an utter and complete disaster. It was only that… _were your partners lips _supposed_ to feel so cold and clammy? Whatever was so exciting about that?_

Later on in the afternoon, Minnie was privy to a minor skirmish between several Ravenclaws and Gryffindors that were in her Muggle Studies class. She and Owen had been leaving the classroom after the teacher had dismissed them (holding hand, of course) and were patiently waiting for Minnie's escort to turn up when Ravenclaw's Stewart Ackerly and Charles Moore began speaking in rather loud voices.

"Say, it seems so extremely odd to have Gryffindors in this class, doesn't it Charles?"

"Why would that be?"

"Well, Gryffindors aren't capable of individual thought, are they?"

"Every one knows that! They follow one person's advice and opinion and go from there!"

"Sad, isn't it? And to think they've chosen to follow that murdering son-of-a-bitch Potter's insane cover-ups of his murders! Rather pathetic if you ask me."

Gryffindors were notoriously easy to bait. Natalie McDonald and Dennis Creevey had heard everything and smoke was practically coming out of their ears. They exchanged one glance with the third member of the Gryffindor fourth-years taking Muggle Studies, a tall girl named Kendra, and the three of them launched themselves at the two offending Ravenclaws.

Minnie saw no reason to do so. She and the rest of the class had seen something neither the two foolish Ravenclaws nor the three infuriated Gryffindors had spotted. Natalie, Colin and Kendra found their attack stopped in mid-air by a whispered charm and were themselves deposited softly on the stone floor several paces back. That allowed Stewart and Charles a very clear view of all five of the Gryffindor seventh year boys. Ron Weasley still held his wand aloft, he having been the one to stop the younger student's attack. Neville was holding Colin Creevey back, as he was determined to severely hurt those who had insulted his idol. Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnigan were taking in the scene, keeping a close eye on Harry Potter, who stood slightly in front of the rest.

Harry's calm stance was what was worrying Minnie. The last line the Ravenclaws had uttered was a compendium of everything that could infuriate Harry. Accusing Gryffindors of blindly following anyone insulted Gryffindore. In addition, Minnie knew that Harry didn't like the idea that people trusted his opinion (well, those who weren't convinced by the press accusing him of being on the same level as He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named). Then they had repeated the accusations that Harry had committed murders in cold blood and lied to cover them up, something which was sure to rile his temper. But worst of all, the Ravenclaws had touched upon that oh-so-sensitive topic of Harry's parents.

Minnie had been present when last year, a furious Cornelius Fudge had sneered at Harry and called him a disgrace to wizard kind. He had then invoked the quasi-sacred names of Lily and James Potter and told Harry that he was an insult to their memory. All the glass in Diagon Alley had shattered that day.

And Stewart had just slandered Lily Potter. People began edging out of the way. Stewart, finally realizing what he'd just said and who be'd been so abysmally stupid to say it in front of, couldn't move, completely hypnotized by the emerald eyes that were boring into his body. Susan and Daphne had finally arrived and began ushering the Hufflepuffs away, out of the danger zone, which consisted of any space surrounding the petrified Stewart or space lying between the said idiotic boy and Harry.

Slowly, Harry walked forwards, his pace measured and his eyes never breaking contact with those of Stewart. He made no sound as he covered the distance. He stopped when he was only three feet away, lifting his hand where his wand had somehow appeared, no one had seen him take it out. He waved it in front of Stewart once.

Stewart cringed and closed his eyes. When he opened them, it was as if he'd gone blind. He stared around him wildly, seemingly to make eye contact with anyone of the people standing around. But it was as though he could not see them. Had Harry caused him to go blind?

Stewart raised his hands and tried to take a step forwards but crashed into an invisible wall. For a moment, he seemed to be a silent comedian, miming a wall in front of him. But it soon became evident that what Harry had done was enclosed him in a space where he had no light to see where he was or what he was doing. It must have seemed to him that he had been locked into an uncomfortable, dark cupboard. The kind that one would find in Muggle homes, under the stairs.

"Is it dark in there, Stewart?" Harry asked silkily. "It must be quite uncomfortable, isn't it?" Then, with false concern, "What's that? You seem to be clausterphobic, don't you? I was too, once. I got over it. You know what the best way is to get over a phobia is? You have to confront it. Consider this a favor then. After all, when this was all I had, because my mother had been ripped from me, no one had my best interests in mind."

Harry turned from the trembling boy and continued on his way down the corridor, the other Gryffindors following him silently, but without having broken the spell surrounding Stewart. Charles attempted to speak to him, but only the caster's voice could penetrate the spell.

For a moment, it seemed as though Susan was going to cancel the curse around the Ravenclaw, but her arm fell before she could pronounce the words. She looked unsure for a moment, then shrugged and led the Hufflepuffs away. The last Minnie saw of Stewart was a huddled ball at the foot of the wall, shaking with fear.

Finally, it was time.

Susan again walked her up to the Dueling Chamber, alternating nervous bits of advice with heavy silences. None of her advice was very helpful as Minnie didn't know half the spells she was talking about nor did she understand most of the strategy. She supposed she'd just rely on her spells and charms that would confuse Malfoy. And she didn't intend to stand very still once inside the surface.

The statues in the corridor outside of the chamber seemed to look at her, weighing and evaluating her. Another movie quote, "you have been weighed… you have been measured… and you have been found wanting." _Not a happy thought_. And _no_, it just wouldn't do to invoke Peter Pan while fighting either.

They were the first to arrive, only Conroy was there, slowly circling above their heads. Hannah arrived a short time later, resplendent in long dark robes and her curly hair loose, cascading down her back. Terry Boot walking in a few minutes later, also in dark robes. Minnie wondered if Luna was going to show. Unlikely, she wasn't an official ruler, the title still belonged to Terry. However, she realized that this duel would be somewhat ceremonial. Those robes that Hannah and Terry were wearing weren't the usual school robes that ended at your ankles. They were long, trailing on the floor, and were cut in a way that any movement that the wearers made was amplified. The collars were slightly different, Hannah's was folded so that her hair and neck showed proudly. Terry's was a Mao-ish collar, short and stiff that gave him a considerable air of authority. Neither ruler spoke.

Malfoy arrived with an entourage. Actually, it was only two people, but next to the other rulers who had arrived alone, it seemed like a lot. He was going to use a stand in. Blaise Zabini was wearing the same kind of dark cloak as the other two rulers though it seemed to have been quickly tucked in at several places. _Probably it was fitted for Draco and they hadn't wanted to or hadn't had the time to do the job properly_, thought Minnie snidely. Blaise also had her hair up in a beautifully complicated and sophisticated chignon, her collar like a vampire's high and stiff; she was the personification of the dark, dangerous beauty. Theodore Nott was going to be Malfoy's second and he looked the part, wily and scary, Minnie supposed that the theory was that; if magic can't kill her, just use stealth - _A very Slytherin way to think_, Minnie thought.

The rulers were in place, Hannah and Susan had turned to her and were updating her on spells and pointing out some of Malfoy's weaknesses. Malfoy himself was standing near Blaise and Nott in an open huddle, and they were all jeering openly at her. They seemed confident. Minnie supposed she didn't give a very striking picture, small and mousy confronted with the Nordic beauty, she fully expected to be squashed to a grease spot.

They were still waiting for the fourth ruler… who finally arrived, stepping into the chamber with an unconcerned look on his face.

Minnie had thought Draco looked striking? _Whatever_. Harry was a tall, handsome mass of darkness and mystery, his long cloak shrouding him in shadow and his dark hair only serving to reinforce the feeling of the tantalizing unknown. His face was angled downwards as though deep in thought, so that his face and eyes seemed to float surrealistically between the darkness of his clothes and his hair.

Minnie realized that what made these rulers look so mystic right now was the simplicity; the complete absence of jewlery, ornaments, or large spots of color. There was color under Blaise and Hannah's cloaks, where their robes showed their dresses underneath, but not much of it. And Terry also wore all black, but his brown hair lightened the effect. It was Harry who fully pulled off the dark look, his green eyes the only sign of life or light he allowed himself.

He stood in his place, the outside circle was complete. For a moment his eyes settled on Minnie and his lips curled slightly upwards, though in a smile or a sneer she couldn't say. She was far too nervous. For the seconds had also taken their places and Malfoy was advancing to the center of the circle. Minnie supposed there would be no point in running for it, she advanced as well. Conroy alighted on the white star, just between the both of them.

"I want a nice clean duel from the both of you," he warned, looking at Malfoy. He took flight and hovered over their heads. "Allez-y."

Malfoy and Minnie bowed their heads, then turned… it was five steps… one… two… three… four… five. She turned quickly to see that Malfoy already had his wand out.

"_Inverso_!" he said lazily.

"_Protego_!" she countered before adding, "_Rictusempra_!"

He dodged that one and aiming his wand once again, said, "_Expelliarmus_!"

He wouldn't get her that easily, "_Protego_! _Inverso_!"

Once again, he dodged. He raised his wand, uttered a spell that Minnie didn't know and a large red snake slipped out of the end. He pointed at her and the snake started to slither rapidly towards her, tongue flickering out menacingly. A Shield Charm wouldn't stop a solid of magical type and, being in fourth year, Minnie didn't know how to Conjure. She managed a fairly good Reductor curse as the snake neared and, acting on pure instinct, stepped on it. Blood gushed out from beneath her heel

He looked angry that the duel wasn't over yet, so he began pulling out the heavy artillery, "_Expelliarmus! Inverso_! _Sangrify_!"

She managed to dodge the Upside-down spell, as well as the Disarming spell, but was hit by the Bloody one. She felt a gash across her chest and felt herself beginning to bleed… well if that's what he wanted…

"_Tiago_!" he only just got out of the way, but looked confused. "_Mushmurtonia_!" That one hit him. Now he looked a bit scared, and well he should, for now he wouldn't be able to articulate spells. "_Gifle_!" and a hand imprinted itself on his cheek, where the spell had slapped him. "_Cauldronatus_!" her personal favorite, he was now drenched in a foul smelling greenish slime. "_Entornum Silencio_!" Well, now, not only couldn't he understand what she was saying, but he couldn't hear or speak anything at all. She intended to enjoy this. She shot sparks of light at him, while moving her mouth. He, thinking that these were spells or curses dodged them quite dramatically, and she heard a snort of laughter from behind her, where either Susan or Hannah was standing. Finally, not really having had enough, but not wanting to drag this out to long in case Malfoy took back the advantage, she cried, "_Locomotor mortis_!" which caused him to fall over, and then, "_Expelliarmus_!" which sent him flying into Blaise and Nott and his wand into her hand.

She had won.

__

Take that Slytherin.

She could hear suppressed squeals from behind her as she watched Conroy land again on the white star and turn to Malfoy's prostate form. "_Finite Incatatem_," he intoned, and Malfoy sat up, glaring at Minnie furiously. "Well done, both of you. I declare Minnie of Hufflepuff to be the victor." The lion face seemed to smile, "Again, well done."

Minnie felt two pairs of arms encircle her, hugging her and jumping around as Susan and Hannah celebrated. It felt good to know that the two elder girls had been worried for her and yet believed in her. Their relief was obvious, though it was rapidly fading as they got into jubilation mode. Hannah grabbed her again and squashed her against herself, still jumping up and down. Over her shoulder, Minnie caught a glimpse of the others. Terry was turning and walking off the marble surface. Harry was still in his position, looking at Malfoy and looking pensive. Malfoy was refusing Theodore's hand to help him to rise.

Hannah and Susan had smiles that went from ear to ear as they pulled her towards the Hufflepuff staircase. Once above, looking off from the balcony, Minnie saw Terry head off for his own staircase, looking amusedly at the Slytherin group, and Blaise and Nott hauling a protesting Malfoy towards the Slytherin one. They did not look amused.

Her gaze turned to her hero. Harry hadn't moved during the entirety of the duel, not so much as shifting to balance his weight on his feet. Now he only turned his head to follow the Slytherins up their steps. Once they'd disappeared, he walked towards where the entrance to the chamber was and raised his wand, emitting a green light and Minnie heard a 'clicking' noise. He'd unlocked the doors.

People came pouring in. At the head of the flood were the Hufflepuffs, who dashed over to the staircase and quickly climbed it.

"Who won?" asked Paige breathlessly, bursting out from the top.

"Is Minnie all right?" asked Holly, hot on her heels.

"Don't worry, we'll get Malfoy for you!" growled out Joseph, already clutching his wand and looking out over the balcony.

"Quiet!" Hannah ordered severely. People began to settle and looked at the three of them expectantly, though some seemed to have guessed and were beginning to smile.

"It was a fascinating duel," began Susan, looking as though she wanted to draw it out as far as she could. "We've seen spells we've never seen before!" She turned and smiled at Minnie, who grinned sheepishly back. "She won!" A great bout of cheering burst out as Minnie was hugged, kissed, and had her hand shaken extensively.

"Show us the crystal!" called a voice from the back. Minnie recognized to belonging to a sixth year, but she couldn't recall the name.

"Here it is." A large crystal, in the shape of a satellite dish (Minnie remembered seeing one of those at her cousin's house) was passed up from the back of the group and was promptly placed on the table in the center of the room. Hannah held her wand to her head and drawing it away, pulled what looked like a long white hair away from her. She placed it in the hollow part of the crystal, and immediately, everyone went quiet.

Large, almost life size images began to take shape in the air and then began to move, exactly in the way that Malfoy and Minnie had done a bare ten minutes ago. Cheers rang out when Minnie again squished the conjured snake. Minnie again saw him dodge her spells, but when she heard him cry the Bloody Spell again, she remembered the gash on her chest. But apparently Susan remembered it at the same time too, because she turned a murmured a healing spell over it and Minnie felt herself sealing up.

The pictures stopped moving and flickered out, it was the end of the duel. Everyone started talking excitedly and happily.

"That was bloody fantastic!"

"We've got a rising star in our midst!"

"Well, I've always believed in her, never doubted for a moment!"

"Sure you didn't Ernie, you know everything about everyone don't you?"

"Look out Slytherin and Ravenclaw! Hufflepuff's coming for you!"

Joseph pushed his way over to her and addressed her, "Say, that was a brilliant duel for a first timer! Would you come down and practice with me?" He held out his hand and smiled at her.

"Sure," she smiled back happily, content to see that she was being accepted into the Dueling Club.

She and Joseph made their way down the steps and towards the dais. She spotted one Ravenclaw pair dueling near their steps, but their duel was drawing to a close and they soon went up. That left one Gryffindor pair, Harry with a fourth year Minnie knew from her classes, Martina, and seven or eight Slytherin pairs. Probably still smarting from earlier, the Slytherins looked particularly focused, most likely practicing hard now in order to wipe the floor with her at the meet. Minnie all of a sudden didn't feel extremely safe anymore, but she wanted to feel like part of the in-crowd, so she followed Joseph up onto the dais.

He turned to her and they bowed. They faced away and walked five steps before turning again and beginning to exchange spells. Minnie found herself getting the hang of this. She kept the Shield Charm on the tip of her tongue, just in case she couldn't dodge. But she wasn't only passive, she shot mirror charms and hallucinating spells at Joseph, who would deflect them quite deftly. They weren't intending to cause damage, this was more an exercise in spell vocabulary and dodging, not aim.

They settled into a rhythm, deflect and shoot, deflect and shoot. Gradually, they began to move in circles, sometimes going so far as to exchanging places, both moving closer and closer to the center of the circle. Minnie noticed that they were soon dueling close to Harry, but for the first time in weeks, she felt too involved in what she was doing to look around at her surroundings. _Her mistake_.

She didn't notice when the Slytherin's dueling decreased in activity, and when they turned on her, she barely saw the spells coming.

The same blue light that had been fired at Hermione a week earlier came shooting towards her.

One of the beams had been shot before the others, probably to give the signal. It hit her in the side, as if someone had punched her hard. But the punch must have continued into her body, continuing through to her navel. She didn't have time to fully realize what was going on, but she could see more beams of light approaching, in slow motion.

But just before they hit her, she felt a body slam into her and push her to the ground, that person covering her with his body. She felt some sort of shield charm go up, and felt, rather than heard, a deep voice urgently say the Disarming spell twice. Out of the corners of her eyes she saw Martina fly towards the Gryffindor staircase and Joseph soar backward towards the Hufflepuff one, landing hard on the bottom step.

The person pulled her up, but kept her back pressed against him and an arm around her chest as he turned to face their attackers. But she was hardly thinking of the Slytherins anymore. She thought back to when she'd wondered what it would feel like to be in his arms… She didn't have to wonder anymore. He was strong, muscular- she could feel the muscles moving as he turned and fired off spells, still holding her tightly. He was taller than she was, by at least a good foot, and the way his voice traveled over her and emanated from behind her back, felt soothing. He even smelled good, though she couldn't place the scent.

__

I'm in Harry's arms, she thought. _He's holding me… just like in my wildest dreams! Dreams really do come true! … I guess I'll have to dream up something wilder then – oh that's naughty!_

Slytherins were falling or flying back against pillars or walls. Spells that came at Minnie and Harry were deflected and countered. She saw the Hufflepuffs were mounting a counter offensive from the bottom of the Hufflepuff stairs. The stair wasn't wide and so not too many people could take aim and shoot without wounding the person in front, but they looked furious. They were up against five Slytherins who were being hard pressed into both defending themselves and keeping the Hufflepuffs on the stairs. Minnie had never seen Hannah look so angry.

Finally, the last Slytherin on the floor went down for the count. Susan was finishing off the last one in front of the staircase. Minnie noticed that not a single seventh year Slytherin had fought… they'd simply sent the others to do their work for them… but they'd failed… thanks to Harry… who was slowly releasing her. The pain in her side returned and she gave a gasp, and almost crumpled back to the floor. His arm stopped and tightened around her waist, keeping her upright. She was turned in such a way that she rested against his shoulder and felt, rather than saw, his other arm, the one that held the wand, move to her side. She felt the tip of the wand against the wound and flinched. He made a soothing noise, he was bent over and his mouth was behind her ear. She shivered. Another word she didn't quite catch and she felt a warm and soothing sensation spread from the tip of his wand into her side. Soon, she could hardly feel where the beam of light had hit her.

He took his arm from her waist and stepped away. Turning from her, he moved his wand in a large, sweeping gesture, gathering up all the bodies and sending them flying towards the Slytherin staircase where they lay, piled up on one another. Someone must have been standing at the top and Summoning them because, one by one, they floated up and disappeared from sight.

Minnie was enveloped in a group hug as the Hufflepuffs once again surrounded her. Joseph was gasping out, "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry!" and Hannah and Susan were patting her down, to check if anything had been damaged. When they had assured themselves, and the others, that she was all right, the crowd parted, allowing Hannah to leave her side and walk away. She headed for the bottom of the Gryffindor staircase, the rest of the House slowly trailing along, Paige and Holly still clucking maternally over Minnie.

"Oi Potter?" Hannah called. "Potter!" No noise came from above. "… Ummm… Harry? Harry, please!"

He slowly came down. He still hadn't taken off his cloak and Minnie once again thought of the feeling of being wrapped up in it, so close to him...

"Yes, Hannah?" he said, stopping on the bottom step and leaning against the rail. Minnie noticed that Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley were coming down as well, though they stopped discretely halfway down.

"I… We… I wanted to thank you for saving Minnie. We wanted to thank you and…" she took a deep breath, "and offer to give you something, or do something to show our gratitude."

"Yes, and not be in my debt either, I'd wager," he answered with a slight smile. Hannah just scowled up at him. "Well then…," he looked mock pensive, "What should I ask for…" He turned and looked up at the other two- thirds of the Dynamic Trio and raised an eyebrow. Weasley shrugged but Granger merely crossed her arms and tapped her foot, looking at him expectantly. "I suppose asking for peace between Houses wouldn't float, right?" he asked Hannah, who shook her head. "Very well then," and with another look towards Hermione, who was now glaring at him, "I want to give her private lessons in dueling." And he pointed to Minnie.

"What?!" cried Hannah and Susan together as the rest of the House looked on incredulously.

"Will you refuse me that too?" he sighed with a long suffering air.

"Well, we…" they turned to Minnie and asked, "What say you?"

"Ummm…" she answered, trying not to laugh nervously, "If it's the only thing he wants… He did save me…"

"If you say so," Hannah said cautiously before turning back to Harry. "Deal, though we ask that you return her whole, unhurt, and alive." She stressed the last word and Harry's brow darkened.

"I did what I could by bringing him back whole…" be began angrily but Granger had already dashed down and gripped his arm. She gave him a warning look and he quieted.

Hermione stepped in front of him, looking more graceful than any Seventh Year girl had a right to be, and spoke to Hannah. "He accepts and thanks you for your solicitude." She shifted her gaze to Minnie, "He will see you tomorrow. You will meet here, in the circle for your first lesson."

"All right, but no funny business," warned Hannah, as the Hufflepuffs headed back to their tower.

Granger merely raised an eyebrow as she turned back to Harry.

That night, as Minnie lay listening to the snores surrounding her, she realized how lucky she was. Owen really did have a point. She was known to the Court, which had a vested interest in her and which also seemed to genuinely care for her. She was now known outside of her House and the celebrity that would come with having defeated a Ruler would be enjoyable. And she would be getting lessons from the expert on Dueling himself. Things were looking up. To say that only a few nights ago, Minnie had thought herself on the verge of exclusion from Hufflepuff House.

After making sure that she was okay, the Hufflepuffs had escorted her back to the Chambers, some of the girls going so far as to tucking her in, to the amazement of the other girls in her dormitory. However, she'd been fortunate enough that Eleanor and Laura still weren't talking to her and Tyler had been to sleepy to want to start up a conversation.

What a day. What a _night_! She could very well be the envy of half the school! Oh sure, no one said it out loud, for fear of not appearing House patriotic, but who wouldn't give up their soul for the chance to be held as she had. Well, maybe not exactly as she had… If it had just been a bit slower, more sensual…

A/N: Sorry that this took so long, I added on the whole Stewart part as I had a request for more House altercations. For any Draco lovers out there- I know he's been looking bad for the past two chapters, but I swear that there's a reason. He is a powerful bastard and everything, he's just not showing yet.

He who cant write- lot's of Harry here for you!

Saitan- thank you!

Innocent-Elphie- Ummmmm, Minnie's not gonna kick ass. She's just my tool so that I can show you how the other (and brighter) students are trying to kick each other's asses!

Yellowpages- Back again! As long as I get your approval, I know I'm doing all right. Thank you so much for reviewing!

Fang Three-Claw- I agree, what I'm doing to Draco is harsh- and it's hard for me to write because I love him as a fanfic character. Oh well, I'll have to write another story and be nice to him then… I've made him to be a pure Slytherin, he has a reason for everything he does. He had a reason for provoking Minnie, and he had a reason for the everything he did in this chapter as well. On another note, I couldn't find Blood Price, what's the author's pen name? As for the Honeychurch fics, I love 'em and I hate them. I like the way Harry handles his teaching duties, but I loathe Vesta. I absolutely abhor any character that remotely resembles a Mary-Sue and she seems to be a perfect example of one of those. I do everything I can to make sure Minnie doesn't become one of those- I'd be devastated if someone told me that she was one!

Oasis- well, Minnie's now go the possibility to learn how to duel… but things aren't going to go the way she wants them to. Glad you liked Conroy, but I think I'm going to keep him low key anyway (look for him at the beginning of the next chapter!)

Joshval124- Thank you so much! That was exactly the effect I was trying to achieve! And if you really like that aspect of the story, just try to imagine what was going on in Harry's head as he cursed Stewart!

Nightwing509- All your questions are answered. (Sorry for having taken so long to update)


	8. The plot unfolds

Title: Holding Court

Rating: PG-13

Summary: WARNING: this story is an unabashed celebration of Harry Potter's uniqueness and powers. Anyone who would prefer to see another character glorified, turn away please!

Hogwarts is divided amongst the four Houses. As physical violence increases, a Hufflepuff fourth year watches as her hero fulfills his destiny. Set in Harry's seventh year, doom approaches. But where is the real war; between the Houses or against the Dark Lord?

Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

When Minnie entered the Dueling Chamber for her private lessons, she first thought that there'd been a mistake. She'd been picturing the tutoring sessions as between Harry and herself. However, there were three other fourth years clustered around Hermione Granger on the Dueling surface and Harry was nowhere in sight. For a moment, she pondered what was going on, then realized she'd probably been crazy to think that Harry would be sacrificing an entire evening just for her benefit.

She was about to head towards the group of people when a very large animal landed in front of her.

"Good evening Minnie," Conroy said as he folded his wings.

"Good evening," she answered, her eyes still on Hermione Granger.

"Well, as you can see, I've asked the Gryffindors whether they'd take you in charge-"

"What?" Minnie stared at him incredulously. "You mean, you asked?" Minnie didn't feel so special anymore.

"Well, yes, it's such a pity to see talent go to waste. Now then," he continued, not seeming to notice Minnie's aghast expression. "I'll be honest with you, our dear Kincaid wasn't too pleased with the idea. But, an appeal to Miss Granger is always worthwhile. I think that a few concessions on her part and Kincaid accepted." Conroy rambled on, for all the world sounding like he was relating yesterday's gossip… which in fact, he _was_.

"What sort of concessions?" asked Minnie, reverting back to the insatiable observer, curious to know what sort of political undercurrents there were in Gryffindor Tower.

"Oh, something about a kiss and a date, I believe," said Conroy nonchalantly, then continuing with, "Anyhow, what did you think of Kincaid's rescue yesterday? I'll admit even I was impressed with his reflexes on that occasion. And I was permitted to see Hufflepuff's fury unleashed, you know…" he said reminiscently, "I haven't seen anger like that from your house since Salazaar started insulting several Muggle-born students about their parentage in Helga's hearing. Both Godric and Rowena had to work together to restrain her on that occasion, and she wasn't even using her wand!" Conroy beamed nostalgically.

"What was she using?" Minnie asked.

"A battleaxe she'd snatched from one of the suits of armor," Conroy added, deadpan.

"Minnie? Would come over here please?" Hermione's voice rang out.

The four Gryffindors were turned towards her and Minnie recognized the other fourth years; Martina, Joshua and Brian. Martina was a rather pretty girl, a bit petite, though very athletic. Joshua was tall, but bookish. And Minnie only knew that Brian was brilliant in Potions, even better than the Slytherin know-it-all Deidre.

Hermione Granger stood behind them, also looking at her as she approached. So, she'd talked Harry into giving her lessons in exchange for a kiss and a date? Minnie wasn't sure that was a fair exchange. Getting Harry to do something and getting to go out with him? _What kind of trade was that_?

"Good, we were wondering where you were," Hermione said, before turning so as to look at them all at once. "Now, I'm sorry but Harry was being held back by dear old Professor Snape, but he ought to arrive any minute now. So, before he gets here, I thought you'd pair up and practice dueling. Just trying to disarm and disorient, you understand? This is just so that I can gain some notions as to your technique and response times. Now, Martina, why don't you pair up with Minnie? And Joshua, you go with Brian. Wait for my signal to start."

Hermione walked back to the edge of the dais and down so that she became partially hidden in the shadows of the circular corridor. Only the bottom of her robes were visible in the darkness.

"En guarde," came her voice. Martina raised her wand, her face expressionless. "Allez-y!" Minnie turned and paced the five steps. She turned at the same time as Martina.

"Expelliarmus!" cried Martina first.

"Protego!" countered Minnie. "Inverso!"

Martina sidestepped so that the spell missed then pointed her wand at Minnie, "Reverso!"

Minnie had seen it coming, she went down on one knee as she had seen Harry do once, and without waiting for the spell to pass by her, she cried, "Rictusempra!"

Martina countered then shot back, "Protego! Tarantellegra!"

Minnie dodged that one easily before continuing with, "Expelliarmus!"

She just barely missed Martina with that one, but a moment later, she heard Martina cry, "Silencio!" After that, Minnie heard no more. She tried shooting off an Impediment Jinx, but as she was not able to say the words out loud, the spell refused to work. She saw Martina smile in triumph and was helpless to dodge the yellow flashes of light that came at her. She felt her wand fly out of her grasp as she flew backwards, crashing to the floor.

"-cantatem," her hearing returned as she saw Martina's mouth finish moving. The other girl was walking towards her, and upon reaching her, handed back her wand and extended a hand to help her back up with a smile.

"Thanks," said Minnie as she rose.

"No problem, "Martina grinned back. This was odd, Gryffindors were notoriously aloof and proud. What on earth was Martina playing at? Minnie didn't do anything, but stood back as the two girls watched the boys finish their duel.

At last, Joshua Disarmed Brian and the both of them headed over to the girls.

They were joined in the center of the cross by Hermione Granger and Harry Potter. Thankfully, Harry wasn't in the cloak he'd worn yesterday. Minnie was sure she'd melt if he wore them again, the memories associated with them were just… too much. He and Hermione had materialized from the darkness of the corridor, the shadows flowing off of them as they stepped into the light. Harry looked for all the world like a prince of darkness so gracefully did he move. He wore ordinary school robes, though they seemed oddly more flattering on him than any of the other boys or men in Hogwarts, with the possible exception of Draco Malfoy.

"Well done!" said Hermione brightly, looking a bit flushed.

"Not bad," nodded Harry, smirking slightly at Hermione. "Not bad at all for fourth years." Minnie noticed Martina's face fall, and to be frank, she'd felt as though she'd dueled very well, much beyond her years. Harry turned to the boys, "I liked the way you dodged that Impediment Jinx, Joshua. That was well done, though you do need to watch out when you fall like that, keep your wand up in case your adversary casts another spell at you while you're down." He turned to Minnie and Martina, "And Martina, that was very good use of the Silencing Charm." Martina seemed to glow with pride until Harry continued, "But that's a pretty bad habit to get into. It'll work only on witches and wizards who don't have the power to cast without saying the spell out loud. That won't work at all on anyone above sixth year.'

"If it's possible to use wandless magic to fight, why do older wizards continue to fight with their wands?" asked Martina petulantly.

"They don't need to," began Harry slowly. Minnie wasn't sure whether his tone was due to his thinking as he spoke or whether he considered it a waste of time to be explaining this to them. "You see, it is more the intent behind the spell that forces your magic out of you. The wand helps to draw your magic out of your core and to focus it in the direction you choose. More importantly though, it strengthens the magic you have inherently. That is why it is so important to have a wand adapted to your magic. I have a phoenix feather core because that is what reacts to my magic. Hermione here has unicorn tail. We can both use each other's wands if we so choose. However, the results will not be as strong as with our own." He raised an eyebrow, "But you already knew that? It's Ollivander's speech as he wraps up your purchase."

He held his wand firmly in front of himself, in a battle stance. "There's another reason though, for continuing to use your wand. When in combat, ancient warriors carried shields to deflects enemy blows. It is common in modern combat to wear protective clothing or armor when heading into battle, whether it be a full leather or metal shield or a simple good luck charm. Wizards however, have no use for such things as they know good luck charms do not exist and solid shields can be broken by curses. The only way to shield oneself is through magic. And I have found that, through purely mental reasons, you subconsciously associate your wand to something that can protect you. After all, you've learnt that it is what casts your magic! And in addition to all that, a human's first instinct when fighting is to cover their face or unprotected areas, so even if the movements of the wand don't mean much, keeping your wand in front of you creates an artificial sense of safety that is important in battle, as it is what keeps you moving." Harry's passionate voice stopped as he took in his surroundings. Sheepishly, he shrugged and changed topics.

'Now then, we'll continue with practicing the Disarming Charm. I saw that you all used it. You probably know that that spell has a special place in my heart, and so I want it done correctly. The main problem with what I've seen you all doing is that your grip on the wand is much too loose at the wrist. Watch as we demonstrate."

He beckoned to Hermione and walked to the center of the circle. He turned and bowed to her. Then, in very slow motion, so that his four students could see what he was doing, he brought his wand forward. Minnie noticed the complete absence of any movement that might not be necessary or might waste time, like those Malfoy had used which had enabled her to guess at what he was doing. Harry's style was clear cut and simple, but apparently very efficient as she watched Hermione's wand fly out of her hand. But she could see that Harry's grip on his wand was much firmer than anything she'd ever used.

"Did you see how the wand is held?" Harry asked, facing the four. "Don't be afraid to grip it very hard, it won't break. Though, of course, not so hard as to make your hand cramp. You don't want that either."

He stepped off the dais, then paused and turned back. He raised his wand and his free hand. Minnie felt a wave of magic wash over her as four indistinct figures materialized in the center of the cross.

Harry turned back. "All right," he said, "These gentlemen will be your targets. At first, they'll stand still while you cast, but they'll soon begin to move, though they'll stay in the circle. Your task is to keep Disarming them. This will require concentration and aim. Begin now." And he stepped off the dais.

It really did require a lot of concentration. The men moved hazaphardly around the circle, often changing direction in mid-step. The hour thus passed quickly and Minnie was exhausted and extremely relieved when Harry called for them to stop and the men vanished.

Hermione dismissed them, telling them to come back at five on Saturday, so that they'd have longer and be able to practice more spells. Minnie snorted to herself; if they practiced any longer than they had done, they'd be needing to pick her up off the floor before the practice was over. The other fourth years went out through the wall that led back to the Hall, chattering animatedly about the prospects their practicing would bring. However, Minnie chose to remain behind. She'd finished the books she'd taken from the Hufflepuff Dueling Library and so she wanted to go upstairs to the Hufflepuff section and pick out some more books to read for over the weekend.

The Hufflepuff section was dark when she went up, but a quick "Ignitio" fixed that. The section was bathed in the soft candlelight, bringing out the soft, cozy hues of the walls and furniture. The bookcase was still against the far wall, she walked over and settled herself comfortably on the floor to look at all the titles available to her without hurrying. She noticed that there were more copies of the books she'd taken the last time, replaced probably so that they could still be read and copied. Minnie had found the one on the rules of dueling quite interesting. It seemed a bit silly, however, to have written a full book on the subject. She could just about summarize the entire four hundred pages as 'If it's not lethal, it's legal.'

She found a likely looking book, but her legs were cramping from having been crossed for so long. She picked up the book and stood to shake out the ants in her legs while leafing through the pages. She dashed a look over the balcony, looked back to the bookshelf, then turned back so quickly she almost fell over the hem of her robes.

Harry and Hermione were practicing their dueling in the center of the circle. As with McGonagall, no words were spoken. But here, Harry didn't stand immobile as before, he and Hermione moved as though they were both standing on the edge of a smaller circle. But that invisible circle they were standing on was getting progressively smaller. Soon enough, they were only a few feet apart. Harrry raised his palm and Hermione's wand flew into it. Locking his eyes to hers, he slowly tossed it aside and closed the distance between them, bringing a hand up to cup Hermione's chin. And he bent down.. Minnie stood aghast. They were kissing. Not any kiss on the cheek, but a slow and obviously intimate kiss, his hands buried in Hermione's hair, his mouth moving from her lips to her neck to the space behind her ears. And Hermione wasn't protesting. Rather, her eyes were closed and her face uplifted, one hand in his hair, the other loosely placed on his shoulder and her head moving to accommodate his searching lips.

In her shock, Minnie had trouble hearing, there was an odd buzzing noise in her ears. But soon enough, she realized that Harry was speaking softly.

"To think that that ploy never worked with my father."

"What didn't work?" Hermione sounded slightly dazed.

"He tried to ask out my mother in exchange for him refraining from hexing Snape when they were young."

"But you're just so much better looking than James-" Hermione began before being cut off by Harry's lips.

Minnie turned back, feeling like a voyeur. She didn't dare walk down the steps, to leave the Dueling Chamber and find a nice deserted bathroom to cry in. Under no circumstances did she want the two Gryffindors to know that someone had witnessed their intimate moments. As a matter of fact, she didn't feel like seeing the other Hufflepuffs after this either.

She had mixed emotions about the evening. She had been so happy to have another excuse to see Harry on a regular basis. She was thrilled over the progress she'd made with the Disarming Charm. And she felt as though her heart was being torn into hundreds of small pieces.

Only yesterday, she'd been in his arms, pressed up against his chest, feeling his voice wash over her. Only yesterday, she'd believed that the world was a beautiful place where dreams really did come true. Only yesterday, she'd been able to fantasize what those lips would feel like on hers.

She couldn't bring herself to hate Hermione. To be able to _hate_ her would be to be able to point to certain aspects of her character and be able to say confidently that they were flawed or wrong or detestable. But could one do that with Hermione Granger? Since when was being a genius being flawed? Since when was being an overachiever reprehensible? When did beauty and charm become vices? Who could argue against open-mindedness and generosity? Minnie couldn't bring herself to be as hypocritical as to claim those things. She admired Hermione too much for that; she only wished she could achieve half the things the other girl could do and had already done. But she reserved the unlimited right to be jealous. She couldn't hate and not feel insincere, but she could be jealous. Jealous of her social standing, jealous of her intelligence, jealous of her friends, and most of all now, envious of her boyfriend.

Minnie sank down next to the bookshelf, feeling tears gathering. She wasn't sure why, she just felt utterly miserable. Or maybe she did know. _Priorities_, she told herself again. She needed to have priorities. Did she want the Court or did she want Harry? How far would she go for either choice? How far _could_ she go? _Could_ she have the Court? _Could_ she have Harry? As unlikely as either choice was, one definitely seemed more realistic than the other. But was choosing to pursue the easier course necessarily the best thing to do? She would regret it, she was certain of that. The only question was; _how much _would she regret it?

She rested her head against the side of an armchair, feeling sleep pulling at her. She closed her eyes, wanting to breathe slightly before needing to head back to the rest of the world.

But the desire to get up soon left her and she began to feel her mind drift… taking her off to a land of dreams where a tall dark stranger waited for her. A stranger with dark green eyes.

"Minnie? Minnie, you need to wake up!" An urgent voice cut into Minnie's mind.

Blearily, Minnie opened her eyes, watching as Tyler's anxious face came into focus.

"Tyler?" she asked confusedly. "Where am I?" Then looking around at the chairs and bookshelves and realizing where she was, "And what are you doing in here?"

"I followed you up one evening and saw how you got in here," said Tyler dismissively. "But you need to get up now! No one knows where you've been and the whole school's in a riot. Last I heard, Hannah was going to go after Potter!"

"What!?!" Minnie had to shake her head to try to make sense of all this. "You mean…" She trailed off as realization hit her. "What time is it?"

Tyler merely raised an eyebrow before answering, "It's two o'clock on Saturday afternoon."

"But that meant I slept for …." Minnie jumped to her feet and grabbed Tyler. The other girl promptly fell over as she had been crouched down to be at Minnie's previous level. However she quickly scrambled to her feet and followed Minnie down the steps and out into the hall. They raced, side by side, heading, by instinct for the Entrance Hall. They almost arrived too late.

There was such a concentration of magic in the Entrance Hall that Minnie's skin tingled. Hannah had indeed gone after Potter and managed to corner him just as he was leaving the Great Hall after lunch. The whole school seemed to be spilling out of the Great Hall, eager for a look at what seemed to be a major battle. There were students on the steps, mainly Ravenclaws Minnie's brain processed automatically. Many students also seemed to have come out of one of the corridors that must have led down to the Slytherin dungeons.

Harry Potter was standing in front of the Great Doors, his cloak only half fastened over his shoulders, his wand out and his face a mask of fury, his eyes glaring furiously and venomously in front of him. His skin was glowing eerily and his cloak seemed to be moving slightly around his ankles, though Minnie could discern no draft. Hermione Granger and Ronald Weasley stood directly behind him, their wands also out, looking incensed. They flanked Potter, their gazes fixed in front of them, yet their body language showed that they were waiting for a signal from him. Minnie noticed that what at first had seemed like a part of the crowd in fact had their wands out and pointed to a moving group that was heading for Potter. This first group were the Gryffindors Minnie realized, fanning out in order to protect their King.

And those moving inwards were the Hufflepuffs, with Hannah and Susan in the lead. A large part of the Court was moving in behind them, followed by the rest of the House. But from their high perch, Minnie was suddenly made aware of their inexperience in matters of attack. None of them was looking behind them. And therefore, none of them had seen the five other Gryffindor Seventh years coming up behind them. They were going to be surrounded.

Minnie began to push people out of the way, helped by Tyler who was surprisingly efficient in the shoving aside of some of the older students. Everyone was transfixed by the eminent conflict ahead, so no one noticed the mad struggle on the already congested stairs. But evidently, someone had. They had almost made it to the bottom of the steps when Minnie felt two strong hands grab her and wrap an odd sort of material around her. At first Minnie thought that someone had grabbed her in order to verify who she was and so call out to the others that she had been found. Instead, this person tucked her under his shoulder and began to back away from the center of the hall… heading for the dungeons. Minnie began to twist and kick, trying to get her hands free so as to claw or grab her wand, but she was effectively pinned. She tried screaming, but the noise she made seemed to be muffled by the cloth, in fact, none of the people she could see right beside her even seemed to notice. She tried to bend and then realized… that where her feet ought to have shown, kicking and twisting, she could see nothing. The material that had been wrapped around her had in fact been an invisibility cloak obviously charmed with a reverse-Exaudio charm. And she was being abducted to the Slytherin dungeons.

But just before she could be hustled down the corridor, her abductor stopped and stood her on her feet. After all that kicking, Minnie's knees felt weak, but she waited for the person's arms to loosen so that she could bolt. But instead, the hands merely rose to grasp her head firmly, turning it so that she had no choice but to look directly at the imminent confrontation. Out of the corner of her eye, Minnie saw Gregory Goyle standing five feet to her side, his hands held out in front of him, just as though he were also holding a head, though he seemed to have considerable trouble holding it steady. Tyler.

But the person behind her gave her head a shake so that she focused on the Hall. Potter had not put his wand away, though his ready position was holding it pointed downwards at his side, in contrast to everyone else, who held theirs upright. His face was steadily draining of all emotion, retreating into a dangerously calm, neutral look, but his free hand gave him away. It was bunched into a fist at his side. He was tense and ready to spring. Hannah had closed in now, and Minnie had never heard her so angry.

"So what have you done to her? We told you that we'd keep an eye out for her! Did you think we'd actually sleep knowing she was with you! You should have known better Potter! And-" another female voice broke in, it sounded like Hermione, but Hannah overrode it, "Move over, you bitch!"

A slapping noise, followed by gasps. Minnie couldn't see what was going on, owing to her small size; she could only see the top of the heads of those in the action. But all of a sudden, she could see all of Hannah, someone had lifter her up and was preparing to throw her. Ronald Weasley had picked her up and thrown her into the advancing Hufflepuffs. Susan and Justin received her body with a dull 'thud' and promptly collapsed. A few voices started to cry out spells, but the purple shield was now operating again. And the Hufflepuffs found themselves surrounded. The Trio and other Seventh Years advanced, casting spells, as the surrounding Gryffindors spread, cutting out all escape routes. Each Gryffindor was now included in the purple shield, and none of the Hufflepuffs could break through.

That was all Minnie was allowed to see, as her attacker whisked her around and Minnie caught a brief glimpse of Vincent Crabbe's face before she was thrown over his shoulder.

For what seemed like forever, all Minnie could see were the stone tiles as she was carried. Up sets of stairs, cutting across corridors; Crabbe and Goyle didn't even bother to disguise their steps; everyone was in the entrance Hall, probably watching as the Hufflepuffs were scraped off the walls.

Finally, they stopped in the middle of a long corridor, deep down in the entrails of Hogwarts. This was a place of the dungeons that Minnie (and probably all sensible people) avoided. The stones were old and damp, the air was humid and still and green slime seemed to be oozing out from between the stones.

"Gentus Nobilis," intoned Goyle from somewhere next to Minnie's stomach. The stones in the wall shifted aside, to show the entrance to what had to be Slytherin Dungeons. As she was thrown over a shoulder, Minnie could only see what was behind, she watched desperately as the stones shifted again, concealing the entrance to the common room. As they advanced, the edge of a dark green rug came into view, as well as a series of black couches positioned so as to form a square. A large fireplace was enchanted so that green flames seemed to slither outwards before heading up the flue. Several small black spindly tables were placed around the room and large, ancient tapestries hung from the walls. But Crabbe and Goyle didn't stop until they were at the bottom of a staircase leading down further into the bowels of the castle. Then again, it was only a pause, Crabbe allowing Goyle to precede him. They passed doors with dorm numbers atop them, but they continued down even after having passed the prefect and seventh years dorms. Finally, as they neared what to Minnie seemed like the center of the earth, Goyle finally stopped to open a door.

It was small, drab and cell like. It was to be expected, in a sense. It couldn't have been more than three meters in diameter and the stones in the floor were the same as those of the ceiling. But surprisingly, there was a small window in the wall. Crabbe put Minnie down, but before completely letting go of her, he grabbed the invisibility cloak, just as Goyle revealed Tyler to her eyes. Crabbe grasped Minnie's shoulder with one hand, enough for it to hurt, and frisked her thoroughly. He didn't find anything, she'd dropped her wand when she'd been seized in the Entrance Hall.

As soon as the door closed on the two goons, Minnie and Tyler threw themselves towards the small window, in the hopes that it might present some type of escape route. After all, this was in the dungeons, so they couldn't be that far up from the ground, they could try jumping. No good, there was an Imperturbable Charm on the window, Minnie and Tyler couldn't get close enough to the window to even touch it, their hands or faces were always pushed aside by an unseen force.

"Oh shit," said Tyler as she sank to the floor on one side of the cell. "Now what's going to happen to us?"

"We're in the Slythering dungeons… maybe Professor Snape will find us and send us back?" Minnie tried.

Tyler snorted, "I thought you had a better feel for people than that, Minnie dear." Her voice was scathingly sarcastic. In fact, it sounded a good deal like the Professor in question.

"I wonder what happened to the others. Do you think they're hurt?"

"Who?" Tyler snorted again. "Our dear Hufflpuffs? Oh, they've been scraped off the walls by now. Probably they're having a massive badger party up in the infirmary!"

"You don't think any of them got out of it?"

"Just how naïve are you, girl? And by the way, why the hell didn't you come back to the common room last night? It's all your fault you know!"

"I was tired!"

"So you decided to fall asleep on a rug instead of a nice bed? Especially when you knew perfectly well that everyone was worried about you!"

"Why should they have worried? I'm not a baby!"

"You sure act like one!"

"How so? I could handle a dueling class all by myself!"

"But you couldn't handle the responsibility needed to know that the others would be worried for you!"

"So what did they do? Bite their nails all night! That sounds like they were really in a fury of activity!"

"Of course they didn't do that, you idiot!" Tyler had lost all of the calm aura that she usually projected. "They stayed up until two, hoping that the lesson was only a long one. After that though, they searched the whole school!"

"But they still didn't find me! And I was only sleeping in the place where they knew I'd last been!"

"They looked in the Dueling Chamber!" Tyler cried exasperated. "I don't know why they didn't find you! Well, maybe they didn't go all the way up, but called out! And don't try to change the subject. This is still your fault!"

"You'd like to think that! For how long have you been siding with Eleanor?"

"Eleanor? Eleanor! What the hell does she have to do with anything? All she did yesterday was moan and cry about how you'd been killed by Potter! Don't you get it, Minnie! This isn't some stupid House contest anymore! Your little games with Eleanor and Laura have no bearing on this situation!"

"And you," Minnie hissed aggressively, "What did you do while they were off searching so desperately for me?"

Tyler matched her tone, "What I was doing has absolutely no relevance to whatever happened yesterday. I have enough sense to keep out of situations that are too deep for me. You, however, are in way over your head. So far over in fact, that you're dragging the rest of us down with you!"

"Oh, so me having classes with a fellow student is going in over my head, eh?"

"Classes with a student you know perfectly well you shouldn't be around, yes, that's way over in the deep end!"

"Well…" Minnie would have loved to keep arguing, but a key was turning in the door. It opened, allowing torchlight to spill into the cell. The imposing bulk of Mssrs. Crabbe and Goyle were cut out, and when they beckoned towards the two captives, the girls rose and followed them back up the stairs. They emerged back up into the Slytherin Common room. But it now was occupied. By the Slytherin Court. Draco Malfoy, fascinatingly resplendent in a purely silver outfit and matching cloak reclined on a couch, gazing at the two Hufflepuff girls being led over to him. Crabbe and Goyle stood behind the seat, managing somehow to look both imposing and effaced. Blaise Zabini, wearing a form fitting royal purple velvet number glided over to them, seating herself next to Draco. Theodore Nott, who had been reading on Draco's other side, closed his book and straightened up, putting his novel aside and looking Minnie and Tyler up and down. The rest of the Seventh Years, as well as a good number of sixth years settled themselves on the remaining couches and on the floor. Most of them had changed and were now wearing evening clothes such as Minnie had only ever seen in old movies and society pages. High collars, flowing skirts, glittering shawls that would have put Trelawney to shame, diamonds and jewels that glittered in the light of the many silver candelabras… and everything worn by gorgeous people. _But these gorgeous people were only students, what the heck did their parents wear?_

"Now then, we meet again!" sneered Draco at Minnie, as his audience smirked appreciatively. Too terrified to answer, Minnie heard someone else take on the challenge.

"Indeed," Tyler sneered back. _She had more backbone than she let on_, realized Minnie. Draco turned his head to focus more intently on her. He raised an eyebrow, taking in the furious expression and balled fists.

"And you would be?" he drawled.

"That doesn't concern you."

"Indeed it does," he flashed a smile in her direction. She looked mildly taken aback. This time it was she who raised an eyebrow.

"I fail to see," she said slowly, but composedly, "How knowing who I am would help you to open that door and let me out."

Blaise began to laugh, displaying a perfect set of teeth. She rose and moved sloser to Tyler, placing a finger under her chin and tilting it up, "My dear," she said, "That's no way to speak to your host. As you are here at the pleasure of the King of Slytherin, you will behave in the way he is accustomed to being treated-"

"Like a lazy, slobbering prick?" Tyler spat into her face. Blaise looked shocked for a moment, then raised her hand to slap. But her hand was suddenly engulfed by a larger one. Draco had risen and grabbed Blaise's hand. But he was looking at Tyler. No one moved. Finally, Draco lowered his head and murmured a few words into Blaise's ear. The girl nodded and lowered her hand.

"Follow her," Draco said to Tyler, while pointing at Blaise. Tyler looked like she was going to argue, but Draco raised his wand. Looking exceedingly angry, she dragged her feet after Blaise. Three other girls rose to follow her, Minnie recognized Millicent Bulstrode (looking incredibly odd in a corset and flowing skirt, desperately trying to hide her square figure), Evelyn Moon and Pansy Parkinson. Once the girls had left the room, all attention returned to Draco and Minnie.

Draco had seated himself again and was looking up at Minnie contemptuously.

"So, what shall we do with you?"

"Do with me?" whimpered Minnie, imagining the worst.

"'Do with me'" mocked Draco as the others laughed. "Well, you haven't got any use for us, you have neither the looks nor the backbone of your little friend there."

"Well, why did you take me then?"

"Take you? We can see a good opportunity when we see one. Thanks to you, it's open war between Hufflepuff and Gryffindor."

"What happened to them?" Minnie was afraid for Hannah and Susan, after all they'd done for her…

"Who? The Gryffindors or Hufflepuffs?" Draco looked bored. "The Hufflepuffs are out of action, probably being held in Gryffindor Tower."

"Being held? But, won't a teacher free them?"

"The teachers?" A movement ran through the audience. "The teachers have locked themselves inside the staff quarters and left us to ourselves. They see no reason to continue to look after us."

Minnie was speechless in horror. No more teachers? That meant total warfare!

"So… what shall we do with you?" Draco looked pensive.

"Maybe she could serve as a bargaining tool?" said Theodore.

"Bargaining with whom?" retorted Draco. "The Hufflepuffs are either being held captive or barricaded inside their own chambers."

"Would the Gryffindors want her? Potter was teaching her dueling yesterday," said Theodore imperturbably.

"She's the reason they had to fight the Hufflepuffs today. Potter'd probably kill her himself." He turned back to Minnie, "You're safer with us dearie." He was about to go on, when a scuffling noise came from the corridor leading out of the dungeons. Three Slytherin sixth years came in, dragging a girl with them.

Draco and Theodore rose, the latter asking, "And what have we here?"

One of the sixth years broke away from the struggling girl, "A Gryffindor fourth year, sir. We found her as we were patrolling the library."

"That's not right," said Theodore, frowning. "Why were you able to catch her? It seems unlikely that Potter would let his people run around alone."

The sixth years looked uneasy, "Well, she wasn't alone…"

"No?" Draco asked softly, sounding incredibly dangerous. "Who was with her?"

"A few sixth years and one seventh year, they were-"

"Who were they?" Draco cut in with a deadly whisper.

"Well, Virginia, Marisa, Colin, Christopher and… Granger-"

"You let Granger get away!" Draco and Theodore exploded together.

"Well-"

"Fools! Who cares about that midget you've got there when you could have gotten either a Weasley or Granger!" Before anyone could stop him, Draco had raised his wand and pointed it at the newcomers, "_Crucio_!"

The Slytherin boys crumpled and began screaming. And the Gryffindor girl who had been held by two of them began twisting and kicking in pain, whimpering. As she flipped onto her back, Minnie was able to see her face clearly. Martina. She'd seen her dueling with Harry on the day of her own duel with Draco and had practiced with her yesterday. And thinking back to her duel with Draco… he was radiating power now. Magic was cackling about him and his hair and cloak with waving in an unseen wind as his eyes shot sparks. How could she have ever beaten him?

Then she knew. It was obvious. Simple. _She_ _hadn't_. She hadn't beaten him. What she, and all the other Hufflepuffs had forgotten, in their haste to celebrate, was why people were sorted into Slytherin. They were crafty, sneaky and patient. That duel hadn't been provoked because of Minnie's spell, Draco had to be powerful enough to counter it. They knew that Hufflepuff had a new addition to their Dueling Team. A fourth year, so she must have something special. And so they'd provoked her. They'd made her expose all of her advantages while they held all of theirs back, going so far as to losing. And they'd done it twice. Only the second time Harry had foiled their plans. Minnie had played right into their hands. She'd thought herself powerful… but she hadn't gone up against Unforgivables. Like the one he was still using on the four students twitching on the ground. And as for Harry… had he known? He had seemed so bemused and amused at the end of her duel. He had finally accepted to teach her, granted, only after Hermione consented to date him, but he had prepared to help her... was he therefore an ally in this conflict? Or did he not care?

Finally Draco raised his wand. The Slytherins scrambled to their knees but Martina was still twitching and whimpering. She hadn't cried out while being tortured, but she was obviously still in pain.

"Take them down!" Draco ordered to Crabbe and Goyle. Crabbe directed Minnie to lead the way back down the stairs and Goyle bent down to pick up Martina. Silently they went down, under the implacable gaze of a very irate Draco Malfoy. As they went through the door to the stairs, Minnie saw Draco turn back to the three miscreants kneeling and trembling before him.

Before Crabbe locked the door to the cell, Minnie thought she could hear screaming coming from above.

A/N: I am so sorry that it took me so long to update. However, I'm currently taking my bac. I need to have a twelve or thirteen average (which is definitely within my capacities) but I'm not taking chances. I've spent most of time studying and working… so I cannot promise regular updates for the rest of June. I will promise though, that Holding Court will be completely posted before September rolls around!

While taking a slight break last Monday evening, I stumbled across the most amazing fanfic, entitled Fugitive Prince by March Madness. I'm proposing that we start up an unofficial 'We Hate Leonard' group. I swear, I usually don't get very worked up over fanfics, but I've spent the past week fantasizing over the possible death or at the very least, complete humiliation of the brat. And I thought my little brother was bad! Sheeesh!

Millions of thanks and hugs to those wonderful people who reviewed: he who cant write, Aaron, Makotochi, GY, fence4life21, yellowpages, joshval124, Fang Three Claw, Oasis, Nightwing 509, mrriddler


	9. My hero!

Title: Holding Court

Rating: PG-13

Summary: WARNING: this story is an unabashed celebration of Harry Potter's uniqueness and powers. Anyone who would prefer to see another character glorified, turn away please!

Hogwarts is divided amongst the four Houses. As physical violence increases, a Hufflepuff fourth year watches as her hero fulfills his destiny. Set in Harry's seventh year, doom approaches. But where is the real war; between the Houses or against the Dark Lord?

Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

"Where am I?"

Minnie had fallen asleep, but now looked up at Martina's shaky form. The poor girl looked utterly confused, but at least she wasn't trembling and whimpering as she had been last night.

"You're in the Slytherin dungeons. They captured you last night," Minnie explained softly. Martina's brow furrowed in confusion. "Don't you remember?" _Oh dear_, Minnie sincerely hoped that Martina hadn't lost her memory.

"I was captured? … Oh! … Last night, you say? In the library…" Martina seemed to be in a different world, reliving past experiences. But at least, the memories that she had still corresponded with that of Minnie's reality, something for which Minnie was extremely thankful.

"Can you tell me what happened?" Minnie asked gently, hoping that exercising her memory would bring Martina back fully.

"Well, after the battle with the Hufflepuffs, Harry ordered us all the Gryffindor Tower… And he explained that the teachers had barricaded themselves… They'd had enough of our fighting and were going to let us settle everything the old fashion way. We were on our own." The loss of the authority of the teachers seemed to be a big blow for Martina because she choked down a sob before continuing. "The Seventh Years began organizing everything. Harry knew what to do and we all followed his orders. So we… so we organized… from food to medicine… and that's when Hermione said we'd need to get a book from the library on Healing in case anything happened. I'd done a special project this year, so I knew which book we needed, and… and I went with them…. I found the book and gave it to Christopher… And that's when the Slytherins arrived. They were so big and angry! We ran for it… Ginny was in the back. But she tripped… so Hermione and I turned back while Christopher and Marissa ran on ahead to put the book in a secure place… But when the three of us tried to run, I got caught." All of a sudden, Martina grew agitated, she grabbed Minnie's upper arms and began shaking them. "Did Hermione and Ginny get away? Did they?"

"Yes, they're fine, I think," after all, Minnie had no way of knowing for sure or not whether they'd fallen into enemy hands later. "They weren't brought in, at least."

Martina sighed and let go of her. "Then they're all right. They only had to go as far as the infirmary to meet up with Ron and Dean, they're all right." She breathed in deeply and curled up into fetus shape.

"Martina?" Minnie asked tentatively.

But Martina was asleep.

The day passed slowly. Minnie tried to measure time by the shadows of the trees outside. Around noon, someone had unlocked the door and pushed in a plate of food. Having roused Martina who'd swallowed a few mouthfuls before falling asleep again. Minnie dozed and daydreamed, wondering what was going to happen to everyone. She was worried about herself. She was worried about Martina. She was worried about Tyler, who still hadn't come down. She was worried about the other Hufflepuffs. She was worried for the Gryffindors who were probably going to take this conflict to its end, regardless of the casualties. She was even worried for the Ravenclaws who were going to be caught in this mess. She had a few twinges of worry for those Slytherins who had to suffer a leader like Draco, for those who might be too young to understand what was going on.

She was thinking about Owen when she heard a noise coming from the other side of the door. Something was feeling its way up the side of the door. There were no voices, but it was as if someone was scratching the bottom of the door and working his way up to the handle. Then it stopped for a moment. A long scaly object came through the keyhole. It was a snake, brightly colored and incredibly thin; it couldn't have more than two centimeters in width. Minnie remembered that brightly colored frogs were poisonous, she assumed the same thing would apply to snakes. Terrified, she pressed herself against the wall.

The snake slithered down the door and came to rest on the ground. It looked around the cell slowly, its gaze coming to rest on Martina's sleeping form. It slithered over to her, stopping only inches from her face. Minnie wanted to run at it and scare it away, but she was afraid it would attack her then. Though she didn't think it fair to Martina that she had to suffer the Cruciatus Curse and then die from a snake bite. Or maybe she wouldn't. The snake apparently lost interest in Martina because it began to slither over to Minnie. She tried to back pedal, but the snake kept coming. Finally she stopped, reasoning that if she _had_ to die, she might as well not try to put it off. The snake kept coming at her. It climbed up her leg and over her chest, bringing its eyes to the same level as hers. She closed her eyes, not wanting to look at it.

This was _it_. She'd never become a Charms Fellow. She'd never have a family of her own. She'd never have a real boyfriend… _Oh Merlin, what was happening to Owen?_ She'd never have to fight. She'd never see the death and destruction that were inevitable in this war. She'd never_… a vision of Harry in a Hogwarts garden, standing close to her and raising her chin_… she'd never get to experience real life. She'd never be able to take responsibility for anything. She'd never be confronted with choices.

She waited for the pain of the bite. It never came. When she opened her eyes, it was to see the snake's end disappearing back through the keyhole. What were the Slytherins playing at? Sending a snake in like that?

Minnie waited for the snake to be sent back in to kill the both of them, but the Slytherins had apparently lost interest or else they thought the job completed. Minnie was beginning to be seriously worried about Tyler. The sky was darkening outside and she still hadn't come back. The Slytherins didn't seem surprised that they weren't dead because someone came to bring them food. Minnie tried to ask about her whereabouts, but the sixth year made no answer, merely motioning that she should feed Martina.

Waking Martina in order to feed her was no easy task, but finally, Minnie managed to get her to sit up.

"Come on, just a little bit more broth! You're almost done!"

"I … don't … want any!" and Martina tried to push the spoon away.

"You need to eat, you haven't eaten anything since this morning! Come on, open wide!"

"Stop it!" Martina began to take deep breaths, apparently, she was able to speak again. "I don't want to eat!

"Of course you don't mean that! You'll die if you don't! You're weak enough already, you're wasting away!"

"Dying? Of course I'll die! You have no idea how serious this is!"

"What do you mean… 'serious'? How bad can this be?"

"This isn't a game anymore! This is total warfare. There are going to be casualties! And we're top on the list!"

"Of course not!" Minnie tried protesting though this made sense, in a way.

"I'm only surprised they haven't tried to kill us outright," Martina said softly.

"Well, they sent in a snake earlier-"

"A snake?" Martina looked up for the first time, a wild light in her eyes.

"Yes, but all it did was look around the cell. It didn't bite, don't worry!"

Martina was shaking now, seeming incredibly feverish, muttering things such as "snake" and "cell" and "looking." She eventually fell into a trance, starting up every now and then before falling back.

The sky had darkened completely and there was no moon or stars to bring any light into the dark cell. Minnie supposed it was enchanted because she hadn't felt the need to relieve herself. She stood slightly aside of the window, as close as the Imperturbable Charm allowed her to get.

It was as she was studying the dark shadow of the Forbidden Forest that she heard another noise behind the door. Certain that the Slytherins were going to try to send in another snake to finish the job the other was supposed to have done, Minnie sprang across the room to where Martina was dozing.

"Martina! Wake up! They're doing it again!" Martina jerked awake but Minnie still shook her shoulders while thoughts of _I'm gonna die_! ran through her head. But suddenly, Martina leapt up, hauling Minnie with her and slapping her across the face.

"What-" began Minnie, not understanding why Martina had slapped her after all the care she'd given and why she seemed awake for the first time since she'd been tossed in with Minnie.

But Martina was staring avidly at the door, where somebody was fiddling with the lock. Had she gone crazy to be so gleefully anticipating a Slytherin's arrival? But when the door swung open, it revealed not Crabbe or Goyle, not even Malfoy himself. No, it swung open to show two black clad men, of approximately the same height and build. Both tall, both strong, but one of them looking into the cell while the other watched the stairs. The one watching the stairs turned and Minnie realized what this was. They were both striking and outlined in the light from the stairs, they seemed like angels. Martina gave a strangled cry and sprang for the door.. She lept into the arms of the black haired man, burying her face in his shoulder, laughing and crying hysterically and envelop her into his arms, holding her tight.

"You came! You came, you came!" Martina sobbed over and over. The red-head had taken one cursory glance at Minnie's shocked face before turning back to his friend and taking Martina from him. He picked her up, one hand under her shoulders, the other behind her knees, but when Harry looked at him, Ronald frowned and jerked his head in Minnie's direction. Harry's grin faded and he turned back to where she stood. His look had become a scowl and it frightened Minnie so much that she took a step backwards and tried to press herself into the wall.

"We ought to leave her here," Ron muttered angrily.

"After all the trouble she's caused, she should be left to stir in her own juices," Harry acquiesced.

"Besides, there's no place to keep her."

Harry shook his head. "Hell, I'd love to, but I won't stoop that low. She'll have to stay in the Tower with us. We can't leave any hostages to the Slytherins, not with what we're taking." Abruptly, his face went back into a neutral that Minnie knew so well. He nodded his head at her and asked contemptuously, "Well then, are you coming or not?"

Mutely, Minnie nodded and left her cowering position by the wall. Harry's Gryffindor tie seemed rather odd now that she stood next to him. Come to think of it, those shades of red and gold were oddly reminiscent of the snake that came in earlier. _Oh, of course_! Harry was a parseltongue, so _he'd_ probably sent the snake! But then, why had it come so close to her face if all it needed to do was report back? _Right_! Susan and Ernie were complaining about Harry being able to possess others! So he'd probably come down to the dungeons in his pet snake's mind! _It was rather ingeneous of him_, she thought as she followed as the two young men went up the stairs, Ronald carrying Martina in his arms.

They emerged at the top of the stairs to a darkened Slytherin Common Room. The place seemed shrouded in silence, the candelabras that had bathed everything in golden light had been extinguished. The only light permissible was the soft silvery sheen of the moon. IT suited the aristocratic setting just as well as the gold firelight had. But in the mysterious silence several black shapes were moving around. Some were obviously watching the stairs leading to the dormitories, others were searching for something. As soon as their little group had emerged, a figure hurried over to them. Minnie could hardly make out Ginny's face beneath her hood, but she recognized the voice as she took Martina from Ron, setting her on her feet and patting her back reassuringly.

"We've found a couple of maps as well as a few interesting looking items, but no passwords or plans," she reported before facing Harry while gazing at Minnie. "And what is she doing here?" she asked accusingly, pointing a finger.

"We found her with Martina and Harry wouldn't let me leave her there-" growled Ron.

"- I know, I know, my hero complex," Harry cut in aggressively and the others quieted. "Now, we need to fold back. Ginny, take Dean and these two girls back to the first point. We'll meet you there in ten minutes." Harry left them where they were and headed to one of the persons who was standing watch and closely observing an old piece of parchment he held in front of him.

"Wait!" said Minnie, slightly too loudly. Everyone present whirled around and Ginny's hand whipped out, covering her mouth and muffling her word.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" she whispered angrily.

"Tyler!" Minnie remembered her being led up to the dormitories now. "They have her, but I don't know where!"

"There's another Hufflepuff in here? Damn it!" Ginny swore.

"We're gonna have to leave her," said Ron as he and Harry came back from the stairs.

"We can't!" softly exclaimed someone who had dashed towards Minnie after her outburst. "Her own House won't be able to come for her! She's only a poor fourth year! Harry, you have to do something!"

Harry ran a hand through his hair, he and Ron were the only ones not hidden beneath hoods. "Neville, come over here!" he ordered. The boy who had been holding the old piece of parchment walked over to where the group was standing. Harry stepped towards him and began to examine the parchment, effectively shielding it from Minnie's sight. He sighed and stepped back.

"She's in here," he said.

"Where?" asked Ginny.

Ron had been looking over Harry's shoulder. "Oh that's great. She's outside Malfoy's bloody bedroom." He turned pale, "Oh Merlin!"

Ginny's face went green. "Harry! You've got to get her out! Forget the problems we have with that House. _No one_ deserves to be stuck even near a bedroom with Draco Malfoy!"

"All right," said Harry, apparently deep in thought. "But I'm going after her alone." A few protestations were uttered but Harry silenced them with a look. He continued issuing orders, "Neville and Ron, you stay here, hide behind that pillar, near the door. Keep an eye on the Map, if Malfoy moves, you guys leave immediately. Understood?" The two boys nodded. "Good. Now the rest of you, take Martina and Minnie and retreat. Pick up the ones at the checkpoint and go all the way back to the Tower. No one," and at this Harry looked specifically at Ginny, "No one is to stay behind. Got it?"

The others nodded mutely and began to split up. They all headed for the Slytherin exit except for Harry who was looking through his pockets for something. Ginny opened the Slytherin wall, and stepped out, wand at the ready. Two more followed her, before Ginny signaled that Martina and Minnie could follow. Seamus and Dean were still inside, Dean was saying something to Neville and Ron, and as he stepped out of the Slytherin Dungeon, Minnie heard the end of his conversation.

"Take care of him, all right guys?"

"'Course," said Ron, even though he looked worried.

Neville merely nodded.

"Come on," ordered Ginny, and their small group moved down the corridor.

Minnie knew where they were, she'd seen some of these corridors before. What amazed her was the way the Gryffindors were moving. If left to herself, she'd simply have headed as fast as she could to Hufflepuff Chambers and she supposed that, had she been a Gryffindor, she'd have run to the Tower. But there was an aspect she had to be missing. The Gryffindors moved like… well, like lions and snakes. It was evident even in their walk. They went slowly but deliberately, making no noise where they placed their feet, moving lightly. But the group would stretch out, then regroup, just like a snake. And they obviously had strategy. Dean Thomas was always ahead, scouting out the corridors before returning to give an all clear to the main group. Ginny held back also, hiding in nooks and crannies so that Minnie hardly noticed her. At first, she wondered why Ginny would go through all this. But after a while she was able to put Dean and Ginny's behavior together. Dean was the advance guard. Ginny was covering their rear. They were at war.

Seeing people hardly older than she was acting so maturely and seriously suddenly brought Minnie back to herself. It wasn't a game anymore. They had gone too far. They had played at being Kings and Queens with Courts. with hierarchies and honors. They had taken pride in belonging and in doing so had so divided up the school that no conciliation was possible. To admit defeat or to call for a stop to this madness would be weak. And no one wanted to do that. Gryffindors had to much pride. Slytherins would continue plotting even after having publicly admitted defeat. Ravenclaws would never consent to step down a level. And Hufflpuff… well Hufflepuff was out of the running, wasn't it? And even if they weren't, Hufflepuffs always went along with the general game, always striving to make a place for itself.

And so, instead of being fought out in a world that might fight back against it, the war against the Dark Lord was being fought by schoolchildren, slinking around an old castle. Instead of being a place of learning, Hogwarts was a battlefield. How long would it be until it be until someone died?

"Colin? Dennis?" Dean's voice filtered down to them.

"Aye," came an answer as the two brothers materialized out of what seemed like thin air. In fact, Minnie realized a second later, they'd merely been hidden under an invisibility cloak.

"Did you see anyone?" asked Ginny, coming up to the group, though still watching down the corridor.

"We did," said Colin.

"A group of Ravenclaws," continued Dennis. "We didn't try to attack them though."

"Right, they were seventh years," finished Colin.

"Who were they?" asked Dean interestedly.

"Eloise Midgen, Padma Patil, Mandy Brocklehurst, and Lisa Turpin," said Colin slowly, matching names with faces drawn out of his memory.

"Harry'll want to know that," said Ginny. "But we need to get going."

"Yeah, where is Harry? And Ron and Neville?" asked Dennis nervously. "And who's she?" he added, pointing at Minnie.

"We'll explain later," said Ginny. "Is the corridor clear?"

"Yeah, up to the statue of Humperdinck the Ninth. The wards through that way haven't been touched," said Colin confidently.

"Right," said Dean authoritively, "Let's go."

The group moved out with Dean and Colin in the lead and Ginny once again watching their backs. Soon enough, they arrived in a corridor that was so devoid of anything else that it must have been an entrance to something. A single portrait was hung in the middle of the corridor. Dean walked up to it and poked it with his wand. A head leaned out of the side of the frame, seizing up all those who stood before it. Deciding that they weren't possible hostiles, a very fat lady in a gaudy pink dress walked out.

"Password?" she asked.

"Generosity," murmured Colin. The fat lady swung open, allowing them to pass through and into the Gryffindor Common room.

A/N: Okay, I'm extremely sorry for the huge wait. As I wrote last time, I was taking my baccalaureat, which meant that I've spent the past month studying, stressing and taking exams every three or four days. I have no idea how I've done and I know that if it weren't for fanfiction, I'd probably have done better. As it is, I've discovered a bunch of really excellent fics that I feel anyone who considers themselves well read in the domain out to have read: "Mirror of Maybe" by Midnight Blue (archived at PSA), all of Telanu's "Tea" series, and "Hunting the traitor" by FairyTale. I think the stories are incredibly well written with fantastic plots and I fell in love with them.

So, now that all my tests are over (and I'm desperately waiting for my results), I'll be updating much, much faster and more frequently! I'm also starting a story on the Dursleys seven years after Harry graduates which I think will be fun to write. I won't post it though until I'm nearly done (but the outline's already finished!).

Thank you to those wonderful people who reviewed: **Nightwing 509** (sorry if I didn't make it clear; the kidnappers were Crabbe and Goyle), **Mimmi**, **Fang Three-Claw** (simply being crushed would be too good for Leonard, th bastard deserves much worse!), **Mature Immaturity**, **mart** (it's more fun if I scare Minnie first this way), **yellowpages** (I've seen PoA twice now. I love Gary Oldman and David Thewlis in that movie! - and hey, Tom Felton is definitely looking better!), **keebler-elmo**, **Manic the Herinacius** (this update is all for you! **::**grins**::**)


	10. Is it an Explanation?

Title: Holding Court

Rating: PG-13

Summary: WARNING: this story is an anabashed celebration of Harry Potter's uniqueness and powers. Anyone who would prefer to see another character glorified, turn away please! Hogwarts is divided amongst the four Houses. As physical violence increases, a Hufflepuff fourth year watches as her hero fulfills his destiny. Set in Harry's seventh year, doom approaches. But where is the real war; between the Houses or against the Dark Lord?

(Yes, I know, this is a really long chapter, and some of you might just wish to just skip it, but I need to have feedback on this one! This is the first chapter that directly relates to the fifth book and it contains my reasons for what I believe will happen at the end of the seventh book. It's really verbal, with not much action, but it's important!)

Chapter 10

Minnie was amazed. It was obviously in a tower; the view they had out of the windows was from very high up. Outside, snow glittered in the moonlight which also reflected off the ice of the lake. The sky was dark and the trees in the Forbidden Forest swayed ominously in the wind. It looked so cold out there, but the contrast with the warmth of the Gryffindor common room created a mildly feverish feeling that spread from her toes to the tips of her fingers.

The whole place was a symphony of red and gold. There were no stones to provide any cold feelings, everything was carpeted, tapestried, covered, layered or generally hidden underneath velvets, corduroys or wool. A large fire cackled merrily on one side and bunches of students were gathered around it, sitting in the couches or high-backed armchairs, talking and arguing animatedly. When the arriving group entered through the small passageway behind the portrait, heads turned and Minnie felt many inquisitive gazes seizing her up. Yet, she obviously wasn't the main center of interest. As soon as all the arrivals had been assimilated, the chattering began anew, though it was obviously relative to the number of people entering. A few of the older students rose and headed towards Dean, but he waved them off. Instead, he led the group over to an archway. On one side were the boy's dormitories, on the other, the girls'. Dean led the group up the boy's staircase. It wound and twisted but up they went, until they came to the Seventh Year room.

But when Dean pushed the door open, the sight was not that of a line of beds, but rather that of a center of communication. A large oak table had been placed in the center and it was now liberally covered with pieces of parchments and diagrams. Several students were cluttered around this mass of parchment, apparently attempting to establish some order. Minnie wished them luck. A stone platform had been constructed over to one side, beside a large window, and logs had been stacked upon it. A fire and a cauldron cackled away merrily and a student was currently leaning over it, adding a sprinkle of some ingredient while stirring. On the other side of the window, a number of broomsticks had been placed against the wall. They could be grabbed quickly and flown out of the window if need be. That took up two corners. The third corner was taken up by bookshelves, thickly stacked with large volumes. Some one was standing with their back to the entering group, flipping through a register and saying things to another who was dutifully writing the words down.

But in the fourth corner, a large desk strongly resembling those used by the professors had been placed so that the person sitting behind it could have a clear view of all that happened in the room. Hermione Granger had been sitting behind it, writing on a piece of parchment, but had dropped it the moment they entered the room. The group dispersed. The Creeveys headed to those looking over the diagrams and began pointing to them, probably clarifying the status of the corridors. Seamus Finnigan went to the person taking care of the cauldron and handed him a vial before falling into a deep discussion. Minnie suspected that the vial had been something pilfered from the Slytherin Common room and was to be analyzed.

Ginny and Dean dragged Minnie and carried Martina over to where Hermione was standing.

"We got Martina out but we picked up this-" began Ginny.

"Where's Harry?" asked Hermione, looking past Ginny over to the door, she apparently hadn't heard a word Ginny had said.

"I'm getting to that," snapped Ginny and Hermione's gaze shifted to her. "We got Martina, but this girl was in there with her. So Harry decides to get all heroic again and takes her out. But then she tells us that there's another Hufflpuff girl in the dungeons and that we've got to get her out. Well, Harry goes and checks on the Map and finds that the girl's actually in Malfoy's bedchamber. So he, Ron and Neville stayed behind to get her out." Ginny did not seem happy about this.

"They stayed behind?" Hermione said mutely.

Dean nodded, "Yeah, but Neville and Ron said they'd look after him. So we followed evasion procedures. Dennis and Colin are going to write up their report on the going ons in the hallway."

"Right," said Hermione. "So there was no problem for the way back?" Dean shook his head. "Good, then they haven't located that passage yet. Right, Dean, you need to check with Christopher for the Marissa business. Ginny, let's get those girls to the Infirmary."

Martina got to her feet shakily and was helped out of the room by the two other girls while Minnie trailed behind. They went down all the tortuous steps and back up on the girl's staircase, all the way up to the top where a plaque indicated that under normal circumstances it would have been a Seventh year dorm room. Instead, it was lined with mostly empty beds, and a cauldron cackled in a corner. Only one bed was occupied, by a girl that Minnie recognized as being Marissa Quigley, a sixth year, who was sleeping quietly. On the other side of where she lay, the only two Seventh years Minnie had not seen yet this evening were speaking worriedly together. Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil headed over to Martina the moment she had crossed the threshold, carrying her away to a bed and immediately applying potions and asking her if she could describe her exact symptoms. After a minute, Parvati came back to where Minnie, Ginny and Hermione were standing.

"And you?" she asked Minnie, "Do you need patching up as well?"

Minnie shook her head, but Hermione said, "Check up on her anyway."

Parvati nodded and Minnie was led over to a bed.

"Say 'ahhh'" ordered Parvati.

"Ahhhh…" Minnie stuck her tongue out at the offending girl.

Parvati smirked and raised her wand. She spoke spells and charms that Minnie knew not of, but that nagging sensation in her stomach gradually drifted away.

"All done," said Parvati triumphantly, grinning at Hermione and Ginny who had come to sit on the bed next to the one where Minnie all ready sat.

"Thanks Parvati!" said Hermione as Ginny addressed Minnie.

"All right, Minnie." She apparently all ready knew Minnie's name. "Now, explain how exactly you went missing and set off this whole circus," she ordered acidly.

"Well, I was…" Minnie began desperately. It seemed she was like the grease that had fallen out of the pan and into the fire. At least in the dungeons, she'd been left alone. Ginny here looked furious. But before she could attempt to convince the Gryffindors that she'd meant no harm, the door to the Gryffindor infirmary burst open and Harry ran in, holding a limp and unconscious Tyler, closely followed by Ron.

"Lavender! We need help! She's been hit with an Ignivivos! Neville's applied herbs, but she needs help!"

Tyler was lain on a bed and Lavender and Parvati set to work, bringing out cauldrons and other medicines. Neville dashed in, followed by two other girls. Neville joined Parvati and Lavender while the other girls headed for Martina and Marissa. Minnie couldn't understand what was going on. She knew the basic principle of Ignivivos but she'd never been able to cast it. Essentially, it caused a fire inside the person's skin, which would eventually burn them alive if they weren't treated.

But even more interesting than the proceedings going on around Tyler were the looks between Harry, Ginny and Hermione. Hermione had jumped up to hug him the moment he had put Tyler down while Ginny waited before giving him a quick peck on the cheek.

"You!" said Hermione, turning to Minnie. "We need to discuss a few things!"

She led the Minnie over to what would have been the bathroom, and still was except for the cauldrons boiling. But just before they entered, Seamus burst in, holding a sheaf of papers.

"Ginny!" he called. "Ron! We've received something from Fred and George! And your Mum's written something too!"

"I'm coming!" Ginny called before turning to Hermione and Harry, "Can you guys handle the interrogation?"

They nodded and she and Ron dashed back out, narrowly avoiding Neville who was moving a cauldron. Harry opened the door to the bathroom, motioning that Minnie should go in. She did and sat on a wooden chair that was in a corner. Harry and Hermione followed, but regarded the wooden chairs present disdainfully. Harry conjured without any apparent effort two armchairs which he and Hermione promptly plopped into.

"Transcrito," murmured Hermione over one of the chairs. A piece of parchment and a quill appeared on the flat surface, prepared to write down all that would be said.

-Transcript-

Harry: What is your full name?

Minnie: Wilhelmina Beaufort

Hermione: You are a fourth year Hufflepuff?

Minnie: Yes.

Harry: How are you related to Cedric Diggory?

Minnie: He was my mother's brother's son. Her maiden name was Thomasina Diggory.

Hermione: What was happening down in the dungeons?

Minnie: Nothing, really! They'd tossed Martina and I into that cell and periodically pushed food through the slot under the door. But they left us to ourselves, they didn't touch us or anything! Except… well, they got a snake to enter the cell. But it didn't _do_ anything! It sorta looked around and then left. But other than that, nothing happened! …What?

Harry: What?

Minnie: you guys are looking at me funny?

Harry: Are we?

Minnie: And how did you guys know where to find us?

Hermione: What were you doing last Friday night?

Minnie: Ummm… I was invited to a Dueling class.

Hermione: You attended the class, didn't you?

Minnie: Yes.

Hermione: And what did you do after this class?

Minnie: I went up to the Hufflepuff Attic to find a book.

Hermione: And you found your book?

Minnie: Yes.

Hermione: And why didn't you then return to Hufflepuff Chambers?

Minnie: I fell asleep.

Hermione: You fell asleep?

Minnie: Yes.

Harry: Just like that?

Minnie: Yes.

(lengthy pause)

Hermione: So you stayed up in the Hufflpuff attic?

Minnie: Yes. I fell asleep on the floor.

(sounds of someone sitting up abruptly)

Harry: You felt tired? … Or sad?

Minnie: (hesitantly) … Disappointed…

Harry: Did you… did you see anything that you hadn't expected to see?

(feminine gasp)

Hermione: Oh Gods… well, Minnie?

Minnie: Well, I did see something.

Harry: What was it?

Minnie: (very rapidly) I saw the both of you kissing on the marble floor.

-End of Transcript-

Hermione looked afraid and was shooting anxious glances from Minnie to Harry. Minnie was still perched on her chair, though she had her arms crossed and she slouched slightly. She felt rebellious; how dare they treat her like a threat while they themselves obviously had something to hide! But the looks that Hermione was giving Harry, almost as though she was pleading with him had to have a meaning. Minnie had missed something. But what was it?

Evidently, Harry and Hermione were a couple. Minnie had seen ample proof of _that_ in the Dueling Chamber. But they were trying to keep it secret. That would explain why they waited until they thought they were alone to kiss. It would also explain why Harry and Hermione both seemed a bit angry right now. But why the fear?

Harry stood up. _Oh my_! Once again, it struck Minnie how imposing Harry was. Ronald Weasley stood taller than he did, so did Draco Malfoy. But the _presence_ was unequaled. Ronald had a rugged look to him, Draco Malfoy had a refined elegance to his every feature, but you just couldn't get around to wondering where Harry's beauty came from. Because he was more than handsome… he had a real beauty that transcended everything else. He had discarded his glasses so his eyes blazed forth, in changing shades of green. Full of passion, hate, love and everything else; it was all of humanity that was summed up in his eyes. But it wasn't just that, his hair stood up in that unmistakable way that was unique to him. His brow was pale and white, marred only by the lightning bolt scar to which he owed his destiny. But then his full lips began to move, and Minnie was forced to cease her enraptured contemplation of the angel's face before her and focused rather on the tip of the wand that he now held beneath her nose. _Now was probably **not** a good time to fawn over his features_, she realized.

"Speak of that to anyone and you're dead," he said in a low voice.

"Harry! I don't think-" started Hermione worriedly. But Harry continued as though he hadn't heard her.

"If anyone hears of this, I will personally deliver you to a fate worse than death. Don't think that I won't; you'd be placing those I hold dear in far too much danger."

So that was why! It wasn't that Harry was ashamed to admit his involvement with Hermione, he simply didn't want that information to be used against him. It hit Minnie again how sad it was that these students had lost their childhood and innocence.

"Don't you ever get tired of it?" she asked.

"Tired of what?" Harry frowned at her.

"Tired of playing general! Tired of acting as if all this were so important!"

Harry lowered his wand and crouched so that he was eye level with Minnie and his robes pillowed on the floor.

"You have no idea, do you?"

"Idea of what?" she spat. "I realize now how ridiculous this House scheme was. I thought that that was just the way things ought to be! And look what it's gotten us into!"

"You truly believe that we fight for our Houses, do you?" Harry mused, which only served to incense Minnie further.

"Yes! All this fighting just so that your House would be higher than the others! But we all belong to the same school! And that's where our allegiance ought to be! As students, we can do nothing against the forces outside! And you of all people! You, who everyone knows is on He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named's list! You ought to know that your only chance of survival is with Dumbledore! But, noooo! You've gone and alienated him!"

Harry let her finish her tirade without saying a word. Slowly he rose, becoming again that far off entity that he always seemed to be. There just was something unnatural about him, he was human, he was man, he was flesh. But no eyes could speak of so many emotions at once. And if the eyes were windows into the soul… but anyone with a soul so complex so near to the surface must surely disappear or burst from simply exhaustion.

"_I've_ gone and alienated my only protector? The high and mighty Professor Albus Dumbledore?" Harry asked softly, an eyebrow disappearing into the long ebony fringe. "Because of course, _I'm_ the cataclyst for everything that happened? _I'm_ the one who accused and attacked an innocent target in the Great Hall? Come with me," he said, eyeing her with what could have been respect or mockery.

He led her out of the converted bathroom, past the students leaning over a still unconscious Tyler. The activity that had reigned over her had somewhat abated, the students were talking now, no longer casting charms or brewing potions. Tyler's sleep looked peaceful, she looked extremely young and innocent covered by the red bedcovers that had been pulled up to her chin. It was hard to think of the fury and hate that had splayed across her face as she accused Minnie of being responsible for the mess the school was currently in to have come from the delicate form being watched so attentively by the Gryffindors.

Hermione made to follow them out of the Gryffindor infirmary, but Harry simply shook his head at her. She seemed disconcerted and her eyes flickered to Minnie, looking for something. Slightly panicked about being alone with Harry, Minnie wanted to ask Hermione to come with them. But there had to be an effect of being in the Gryffindor's Den that caused her to straighten her back and raise her chin, willing herself to see this through.

Harry led her over to a tapestry in the common room, then pushed it aside, revealing a stairwell and three doors. He pushed one of them open, and motioned for her to pass in front of him. It was oddly reminiscent of the Slytherins motioning for her to enter their cell. Minnie glanced around her, noting that many of the Gryffindors lounging around the Common Room were gazing at her in stark curiosity, and in some cases, hostility. She looked back at Harry, who was still gazing at her, his hand extended. She walked past him, into the room on the other side of the door.

She hadn't left Gryffindor Tower, that was for sure. It was a small sitting room. A large iron-latticed window was partially iced over, allowing for glimpses of the grounds beyond. The glass was stained in various colors, depicting various chivalrous scenes of love and battle. The floor was covered in red carpeting, the two couches opposite one another were brown. A small tea table was placed between them and near by, the ever-present fireplace illuminated the whole room. A few portraits hung on the remaining two walls, though they were currently empty of their occupants. Strange objects were placed on low bookshelves beneath these portraits, along with quite a few books. From where Minnie stood, she thought she could catch the names on the books. No surprise, they were all on dueling and fighting and … dying?

She hadn't any chance to push that though further as Harry was motioning her over to one of the couches. Awkwardly, she settled into it as Harry moved over to the one facing her, reclining, seeming at the same time as though he were completely comfortable and still tense. He pulled something out of his sleeve and for a moment, Minnie tensed, thinking he was going to attack her. However, Harry simply allowed the snake to coil in his lap and stroked its head slowly. It was the same snake she'd thought would bite her in the Slytherin cell. _That's right… Harry was a Parselmouth! And he could posess other people, what was to say he could have possessed his snake! The Gryffindors were using resources Minnie would never have thought to use in order to spy on their enemies… but then again, she was a Hufflepuff, she couldn't be expected to think of these things._

Harry gazed at her for a moment before beginning to speak.

"You really do have a gift for seeing things. You do know that?"

Minnie nodded mutely, and one of the corners of Harry's mouth twitched.

"It is true that for some, this is purely a conflict between Houses. However, it never started that way." He paused for a moment, leaning forwards so that his elbows rested on his knees and his chin rested on his steepled fingertips. "The divisions in the Houses started before you came to this school. There have always been divisions between the Houses, ever since they were created; it's inherent in their nature. If people are divided according to capabilities and preferences, it stands to say that that means they won't get along so well with people in other groups. That's how and why groups of friends work." He looked up at Minnie. "But the current divisions merely stemmed from those separations. If the Houses stand so separated today, it is only because of me."

"Trying to carry the world on your shoulders again?" mocked Minnie.

"Always," he replied, straight faced. "Why has Slytherin gone in such a different direction than us? Because of my rivalry with Draco Malfoy. Why has Hufflepuff broken away? Because of my dual champion status four years ago, and because I didn't bring him back alive." He paused for a minute, his mind obviously in another place, walking amongst tombstones and seeing things that Minnie hoped she'd never have to see. "And Ravenclaw… they've always followed the rules. And at first, the rules were to hate me. And so they did. It only aggravated the matter when Luna stood up for me. Thus, because of me, Gryffindor stood alone. But the separations between the other Houses has nothing to do with me."

"I guess not," said Minnie slowly, dissecting what he'd said in her mind. Why did the other Houses have such problems with each other, aside from Gryffindor? It was all for mere stereotypes; the Ravenclaws _must_ be snobbish, the Slytherins _must_ be evil, and the Hufflepuffs… must be stupid for not having seen all of this before. "But that still doesn't explain why you had to go and alienate Dumbledore! You've gone and lost your most precious ally!"

Harry's eyes flashed, but he otherwise didn't move. Instead, "Do you remember what you said about Dumbledore earlier? About what he was to me?"

"Yes! He's your only chance for survival! I'd have thought you'd be smart enough to realize that!" Minnie was feeling the self-righteous anger felt by those who just couldn't make someone else see the obvious. But Harry appeared to have a different take on the whole matter.

"Survival," he repeated slowly, as though savoring the word. Then he suddenly rose and began to pace in front of the window. "Survival ought to be granted to all. But in a war, some die. Some must die, others are mistakes. An that's what we're going to see-"

"You're wrong!" blurted Minnie. Harry stopped pacing and became motionless again, just staring at her with one eyebrow raised. "You're only going from the principle that this is war! It's not! It's only a sad schoolboy conflict! And if you had any sense of responsibility for those that call you their leader, you'd go out and solve this now!"

"So, that's what you think," he said almost imperceptibly. "There is a real war, Minnie," he said soothingly. The use of her name startled her, but he seemed not to notice. "There is a war that started at the beginning of time, between the Light and the Dark. The conflict has heated up and erupted into open warfare several times. It came again to warfare thirty years ago. Yet, the world has been living through a truce. That truce, which started at the death of my parents and ended with the death of my godfather, is now past. The war has started again. Indeed, I also find it sad that Hogwarts played at war, but now it is irrevocably tied to that greater war. This is the new battlefield, set against a backdrop of childish fighting. We're fighting against those who fight for the Dark, not against those who dislike Gryffindor. So this is a true war, many have already died over the ages, and I shall soon join that list."

"What? But, you're the greatest dueler Hogwarts has ever seen! If you'd only go to Dumbledore, you'd be safe! Of course you'd survive!"

"Survival is not an option for me."

"What do you mean?"

"Do you know what an avatar is?"

"Oh dear sweet Merlin!" Minnie gasped. She did indeed know what an avatar was: it was a reincarnation of a god or an ideal. It was a blessing and a curse. But as extraordinary as Harry Potter might be, how could he be an… _avatar_? "How? How would you know!" she asked.

"I've always known I was designated for something. As a child, the feeling was only slight, a fear of the future, a future that I could feel held no interest for me." He turned to face Minnie directly. "I have no part in the future. I am a product of the past, but unlike others, I will always live in the past. This body I occupy is a consequence of past mistakes, mistakes made by individual and groups of men. I've come to earth as an avatar, a sacrifice, a resolution,. Call me whatever you wish, your epithet would not be the first."

Harry looked at her for a moment, then came back to sit across from her. The sky behind him was still pitch black and the room was warm from the fire and soothing colors, but there was also a magic that cackled in it. And Harry, cloaked in black and his so pale skin, seemed to be out of place in such warmth, yet completely natural in the red and yellow overtones. He raised his hands, placing them a foot away from each other, palms facing each other. A piece of parchment appeared rotating between his palms, along with a magnificent red quill. He directed both of them onto the table in front of Minnie, where the quill's tip rested on the parchment, ready to take down whatever he would say. But instead, Harry merely nodded at it and it began to write so that Minnie could follow along.

The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches… Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies… And the Dark Lord will mark him as an equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not… And either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives… The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies…

"What is this?"

"A prophecy."

"A real one?"

"And it concerns me."

"Then why would you show this to me? What if I were untrustworthy and I told someone else?"

"I've no doubt you would. But the outcome does not matter."

"It doesn't?"

"Read it again."

Minnie perused the message once more, trying to decipher what the prophecy might hold for Harry. She couldn't find any cause for the melodrama Harry seemed to be wallowing in.

"But that doesn't mean you'll die!" said Minnie excitedly.

"Read it carefully, Minnie. This is a prophecy, and in being so, it cannot be read through only once. What does it really say?"

"That the one who will bring down the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies… that's July!"

"Yes, it say July. But it doesn't say that the Dark Lord will be vanquished. It merely says that the one with the power to do so approaches."

"And why would it make that difference?"

"Look at the structure of the sentence. It speaks of one who will approach and then be born."

"But it's the One-"

"And notice how the next sentence is built."

" 'Born to those…" that's birth. 'Who have thrice defied him,' it's the most important part of his life, that's his life. 'As the seventh month dies,' it speaks of… death?"

"Indeed, it foreshadows the life of the individual to whom this prophecy applies. He will be born for one sole purpose, to fight against the Dark. And then he will die."

"But afterwards, it says that, even though the Dark Lord and the One are equal, the One will have another power, that the Dark Lord won't be able to handle! That means life, doesn't it?"

"Look first at the mark. What kind of mark do you think?"

"Well, that part's obvious. The mark would be a scar, a lightning bolt shaped scar."

"No."

"No?"

"No. The scar is nothing but a visible reminder of the curse that failed. But to have been loved deeply, even though the person who has loved us is gone will give us protection forever. It is in my very skin. And in my mind. Voldemort," Minnie flinched, but Harry continued, "and I share many characteristics. Both half bloods, both orphans, both raised by Muggles, both Parseltongues, we even look something alike. Dumbledore said that the reason I can speak Parseltongue is that Voldemort transferred some of his power to me when he tried to kill me. And that's how he marked me as his equal. What I didn't have yet, he gave to me."

"But if you're an equal to He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, then is he an… avatar also?"

"Yes and no. He was once a mere mortal man. But he went to deep into the Dark, he sold his body and his soul to beings more powerful than he in exchange for more power. He fights for the Dark, while I am his polar opposite. And he bears his own protective mark. The hate that his father left in him when he left is just like the love that my mother left in me. To have been hated so deeply also leaves a mark. And that is why we are the only people who can destroy the other. Because our marks cancel the other's protection out."

"And what is the power that the Dark Lord knows not? If you have a power he doesn't know, then you have an advantage!"

"The power of which he doesn't know is merely love. He has become an incarnation of evil, and therefore is well acquainted with hate. But I also know how to hate. What he cannot do is feel love for anything. Fondness maybe, but mostly simply a sense of manipulation. But the power of love doesn't make me any more powerful than he is. My power of love merely counterbalances the fact that he has had more than fifty years of experience. It is what has kept me alive long enough for me to grow into my own power. But as I grow and touch the world, I lose that love. Because I see and feel hate for things, which touches the original purity of love with which I was born, and so as I grow in the experience that he already has, my advantage of love ebbs away."

"That's too theoretical…"

"When Voldemort chose his method to be reborn, he ensured that I would be taken to him. Unfortunately, his plan didn't work too well because your cousin was taken along, and was therefore killed. But before I managed to escape, Voldemort took a small measure of my blood. He has a small protection from my blood, which is yet another reason that I am the only one who could possibly defeat him."

"It's too far fetched!" protested Minnie stubbornly.

"See it this way then; my love is divine. My body is at once mortal and a deity. Voldemort's hate is human. His body too is mortal and divine. Yet I will always be divine and sojourn in this mortal body briefly while he was created from ashes and though he is somewhat divine, his body and soul will return to the ashes he came from. So my power that he has not yet fully acquired is that of the gods. But my human body cannot channel that power and therefore I am at a disadvantage. Voldemort, on the other hand, has had fifty years to channel magic through his body, but he does not have the divine knowelde that I have. So we are both at a disadvantage. Opposite disadvantages, in fact."

"But isn't there still a chance! Just a small one, that you might survive a final encounter?"

"No. If what I have said before does not convince you, read the rest. 'Either must die at the hands of the other, for neither can live while the other survives.' Look at the construction again."

"It says 'either,' that means one or the other!"

"Yes, it could mean 'either … or' but it can also mean, 'on either side.' We already know that Voldemort and I are almost polar opposites. Remember the prophecy talks of us being equal. Have you ever done Arithmancy?"

"Only a little bit."

"Then you know that what you do on one side of the equation, you do on the other, right?"

"Ye-es…."

"So if Voldemort and I are equal, what you do to one, you do to the other. As Voldemort gets stronger, so do I. But if Voldemort dies, so do I."

"So, if you're also the only one who can kill him, by destroying him, you're killing yourself?"

"Exactly. But the up side is that, by killing me, he kills himself as well."

Minnie was horrified. Harry sat across from her, leaning back into the couch, discussing his own death in such a bland and clinical way and not seeming in the least perturbed by the thought of his imminent death. '_An up side' indeed_!

"But the prophecy can't be telling the truth," she said to break the silence.

"Why not?" he merely raised an eyebrow.

"Because, 'neither can live while the other survives.' Yet, the both of you are alive!"

"Minnie," he said, shaking his head slightly. "Do you call this living? Knowing fully well that out there, exists someone who was born only to kill you. Or knowing that your only reason for being is to murder and die at the hands of another? It's not a life. We breathe, walk and talk, but we aren't alive in the sense that you are. We exist for another purpose. I grow uncomfortable in this form, and though Voldemort does not know it, the gods call for his soul's presence in the Banquet Hall of Olympus now."

"But you don't have to! I mean, if you know all this, can't you counter it? Can't you force yourself to believe that you can live? To feel the present and look forwards to the future?"

"Minnie, how can one force oneself to believe **anything**?"

"Well-"

"And why would I want to negate my purpose?"

Minnie sighed and asked her last question in a small, shaky voice, "Do you know when you'll have to… go through with that?"

"No, not really," said Harry quietly, looking into the fire, looking as though he expected or wished to see something in it. "But I can sense that it won't be too long." He stood up, lifting his now sleeping familiar beside him, and walked back to the door leading to the tapestry.

"You need to sleep. We'll set you up in the infirmary and decide what to do with you tomorrow."

Minnie pushed aside the tapestry to find an almost empty common room. Lavender Brown and Hermione Granger were still talking at the foot of the girl's staircase while Ronald Weasley sat playing chess with Nearly-Headless Nick with his wand in his hand, facing the portrait of the Fat Lady, guarding against possible invasions. As soon as she came out, Lavender and Hermione hurried over to where she was. Lavender started to take her towards the staircase, but Hermione simply brushed past her and entered the room where Harry was.

Minnie was led back up the steps to the infirmary, and over to bed next to which Tyler was still sleeping. Lavender handed her a simple cotton nightgown and asked her whether or not she wanted anything to eat. But after everything that had happened and everything that she had learned, Minnie wasn't in the mood for food.

Her dreams were troubled. Visions of snakes, death, dying and green light, punctuated with scenes of red eyes and screams raced through her head. But worst of all, she saw Harry dying. She was standing next to a sobbing Hermione Granger and the both of them saw Harry fly backwards and lay sprawled without being able to go to him.

A/N: Arghhhhhh! I am soooooooo sorry! I've gotten the result of my baccalaureat back and immediately afterwards, I had Graduation and all the subsequent parties, and **immediately** after **that**, my parents leftso it's just me trying to keep evreything and everyone straight. And then decides it doesn't want to let me update. It's been a mess.

Right, this chapter was really odd to write. I've had people fully convinced for about a year now because I am able to go on for **hours** about the proof in canon (and out of it - like stuff JKR has said herself) that Harry will die at the end of book 7. And I've tried to write a paper for the school newspaper about how the prophecy means that Harry will die and that **that's** why Dumbledore was crying- he wasn't sad about Harry one day possibly being a murderer, he was just guilty of continuing his lies. For those of you who think I'm a bit tough on Dumbledore, let me assure you that this is a considerable let up of my opinions (before OOTP, I was convinced that Dumbledore was the same person as Voldemort- just don't ask).

I **know** that Harry would **never** tell some random Hufflepuff about the prophecy. Heck, in canon, he hasn't even told his best friends. However, the way I read it (you know, the whole, I'm gonna die anyway thing), it doesn't matter who knows about the prophecy. Even if Voldemort simply avoided Harry, Harry's life goal is to catch up with him, so they'd have to fight sometime. And Voldie can't send anyone else to do the dirty work, because Harry can only die at his hands. And besides, I wanted to write out my idea and throw it out there. **I want feedback**!!!

Sorry for anyone who isn't a Harry/Hermione shipper. I have no problem with the ship (I have no problem with **any** ship as long as it portrays Harry in a positive light). Unfortunately, I had to pair Harry with **someone** and there was no way I was going to pair him with Ginny (I hate the Wealeys in fanfiction- I just hope it didn't show in my story). And as for slash, even though I adore the stuff, I'm hopeless at writing it. In fact, I'm pretty hopeless as romance period (whether in my own life or in my writing, really). So well, I've plugged in a boring ship because the liaison isn't supposed to play a huge role in what's happening right now.

The 'Ignivivos' spell comes from a fantastically written story I read over a year ago. I have no idea who wrote it or on what sight it was on. Back then, I was pretty into Hermione/Snape, and this was one of the best I've read (the only problem I had with it was that Harry wasn't cast in a very positive light).

Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed. I just felt horrible every time I'd have two minutes to check my e-mails, read all the kind reviews, and still know that I wouldn't have the time to finish the chapter. (Special thanks to balinor who gave me the best early graduation present I could have thought of. Receiving a separate review for each chapter on the same day gave me the exact same feeling as knowing that I'd be able to go to any of the colleges who accepted me with points to spare- in short, I was thrilled!)


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